Apparently Draymond Green isn’t the only one who’s fed up.
Less than a week after the Warriors forward blasted those critical of Kevin Durant’s decision to join Golden State this offseason, executive Jerry West sounded off with some strong comments of his own on Wednesday.
West told The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski that anybody who has a problem with Durant’s decision to play where he wants is sorely misguided.
“The owners make the rules. There are so many players that get traded against their wishes,” West said. “There are so many players that get told you’re not good enough to play in this league … the owners made the rules. They made the rules. They sat in a room together. They sat with the Commissioner and they agreed to these rules.”
The comments are especially interesting coming from West, who played his entire 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers despite multiple postseason disappointments that left the Hall of Famer with only one NBA title to his name. West denounced the rules that restricted player movement during his era, and admitted that if he played now, he would’ve probably made the same decision as Durant.
“To hear some of these things that some of these basketball experts, to hear ex-players say things about it — it’s disgusting,” West said. ‘I wish I had a chance to be a free agent because I probably wouldn’t have finished my career in Los Angeles.”
“The most important thing I think for anyone to understand about this game is again, the players don’t make the rules. When I was playing, we had no ability to move, period. We were slaves … when we played, you had to work in the summer because you didn’t make enough money to support a family…”
West concluded the diatribe by accusing critics of lacking empathy when it comes to judging someone for making a decision that is best for their life.
“I do not know how you could ever look at Kevin Durant or any potential free agent that comes along the way, that wants to leave a market and go with another team that they feel would be a better fit for them than where they are … there were all kinds of players that signed contracts, and we were the ones who got criticized for it when I thought it was justly unfair not only to the Warriors, but more importantly to Kevin.”