Although he was brought in to help Kevin Durant join the Celtics, NFL legend Tom Brady convinced Kevin Durant to join the Warriors instead.
Back in 2016, KD became a free agent and was torn about which franchise he should join next, after he spent the first nine years of his career with Seattle and Oklahoma.
Durant’s longtime business manager Rich Kleiman recently recalled a meeting him and KD had with Boston in the summer of 2016.
“When the Celtics came, it was the Celtics ownership and Danny Ainge, and then like Jae Crowder and I think Kelly Olynyk was there,” Kleiman said on All the Smoke.
“But here came Tom Brady. So it was like, ‘Alright, sh*t, they’re really trying to level the playing field.”
Having the then-4x Super Bowl champion at the meeting actually almost swayed Durant to join the C’s.
“I was ready to just say, ‘All right. Let’s go. I’m ready to go,’ seeing [Brady] there,” Durant told the Boston Herald in 2016. “Just seeing someone so successful at his craft and just a great ambassador for the game of football and the city of Boston, it was just great to be in the presence of greatness.”
But, Brady had some private advice to Durant, which ultimately led him to pick the Warriors instead of the Celtics, Kleiman explained.
“Tom and [Kevin Durant] went to take a walk,” Kleiman said. “Later on, KD was like, ‘He told me to, bottom line, look for the best team, best organization, best chance to win no matter what. I think Brady just told me to go to the Warriors.’”
Despite all the backlash, Durant did in fact join the Warriors, who were coming off an NBA Finals loss to LeBron’s Cavaliers.
Golden State seemed to be a great choice for KD, who was instrumental in the Dubs back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018 after being awarded Finals MVP honors in both series’.
He also formed one of the greatest shooting trios in history alongside Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
So really, Golden State have a lot to thank Tom Brady for!
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