David West Says He ‘Could’ve Stopped’ Draymond Green-Kevin Durant Dustup

Chemistry continues to be an inexact science. It’s subjectivity resides in the complexity of human interaction, and never is this more clear than on a sports teams. That’s particularly true for heavily-scrutinized teams like the Golden State Warriors. That’s why David West might’ve really been the one the head off the Draymond Green dispute with Kevin Durant that threatened to derail the entire Warriors dynasty, as he tells Sam Amick of The Athletic. 

“I’m gonna be honest: The only moment (where) I said, ‘Man, I wish I was there’ was at that Clippers game,” West said to Amick over the phone last month. “When Draymond turned the ball over at the end — and he was going to create the play; he was going to make the play, it just sometimes doesn’t happen — at that moment, when I saw the way he was walking, and I saw KD react, and it was like ;Oh, I know if I was there that shit wouldn’t have happened.’ That’s the only moment where I felt like, ‘Man I could’ve stopped it.'”

West is an old head and commands respect, even from stubborn stars like Draymond Green and MVPs like Kevin Durant. He was around for a long time, and you don’t last that long, or contribute the way West did, if you haven’t earned some respect from your peers. It helps that the journeyman is well-read and one of the more thought-provoking interview subjects in the entire Association, which is why you really should read his entire Q&A with Amick. Whether that built-in cache could have held Draymond in check before he allegedly exploded, telling Durant the Warriors didn’t need him, is unclear. But that’s where chemistry comes in, and it’s clear in his chat with Amick that West thinks he could’ve been the buffer the Dubs needed that night.

West said he was in contact with coach Steve Kerr and has talked to Draymond about the incident, but it’s impossible for him to really help the team heal because he’s no longer in the locker room.

Durant fell into a funk last season too, and there’s been reporting that many Warriors staffers were worried he wouldn’t come back this season. West touched on that fact when he told Amick, “If we were able to get through [last season], then [they’ll] be able to get through this.” Except, last season they had West.