Kevin Durant says LeBron 'paved the way' for his decision to sign with Warriors

K.D. says he used James' decision to fuel his own and hopes it gets seen as more normal

Kevin Durant shocked the NBA world when he left the Thunder to go sign with the 73-win Warriors. By going to Golden State, he gave himself the best chance to win titles while living in beautiful California. However, the decision was definitely not an easy one. He knew it would be seen negatively to leave for a team that had come one win away from winning a title the year before.

He used another player in that same NBA Finals to help inspire his decision. Before returning to Cleveland, LeBron James had shocked the NBA world just like Durant by forming a superteam in Miami. When speaking to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, Durant gave a little bit of insight into his decision and how he feels about it.

Though Durant says he did not consider James' precedent, he readily admits, "He paved the way."

This is the new normal, for better or worse.

Durant was willing to throw loyalty away for his own desires. In the sports world, that kind of thinking is very much taboo -- especially when it involves going to a team like the Warriors. Yet Durant hopes that, like James before him, he's able to inspire other players to make choices for themselves. 

"As time goes on, and the changes start to become normal, people will start looking at it as normal," Durant says. "I hope and pray that they make a decision that's best for them, and nobody else."

Durant's comments are interesting here. There's always talk about loyalty in sports, but the dirty secret is there's no such thing. Teams and players are loyal until there is no longer a need to show that loyalty to each other. They say it all the time. This is a business. So Durant is right that players should always choose to make decisions for themselves first. 

That said, the key difference of Durant's situation compared to other players is he chose a team that he was very close to beating on his own. A team that would have been just fine without him. A player like him joining a team like that typically doesn't happen whether it's because of cap space, competitiveness or goals not matching with each other. His decision was such a rarity in the scope of the NBA that it's unlikely to be seen again. It's hard to ever see it as normal.