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Matt Barnes defends Durant's decision to change teams

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

Kevin Durant is getting wrung through the wringer for deciding to switch sides.

After being hailed as one of the NBA's most upstanding citizens for his entire career, Durant has been re-branded as a villain - all because he exercised his unrestricted free agency rights.

Matt Barnes sees through the double-standard that gets unfairly applied to players, and he stood up for Durant on a recent episode of Big Boy TV.

"I think it's dope," Barnes said of Durant's decision to sign with Golden State. "It's obvious that they have a superteam now and there won't be very much parity in the league.

"But I think it's cool because at any given time, the NBA can trade you, cut you, waive you, they wash their hands with you and it's the business. But when a player takes the power into his own hands and goes to another team he's the bad guy."

Barnes, who's no stranger to being cast as the bad guy, saw this same thing happen to LeBron James when he took his talents to South Beach. The King became the most hated man in sports, and now six years later, James' image is once again squeaky clean.

"I didn't agree with the way LeBron went to Miami but LeBron wanted to go somewhere else, and all of a sudden he's the worst guy on earth," said Barnes. "Kevin Durant wants to go somewhere else, take less money to go win, and now he's the worst person on earth. The way they try to spin that is crazy to me."

Granted, it's not entirely an issue of labor rights that bothers some people with Durant's decision. Seeing a top-three player join a 73-win team offends certain sensibilities when it comes to competition.

But Barnes makes a good point when it comes to loyalty - players get dragged through the mud while teams get to hide behind the pretense of business.

"Teams can do whatever they want with you, it's your life and they can throw you away, and it's like 'OK that's the business' but when a player does it they're a villain."

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