Steve Kerr: Kevin Durant was ‘Restless’ & Drifted Off After 1st NBA Finals

Simmons: “My theory — I’m not sure if I’m right — but I think he thought when he won the title that first year… and he really outdueled LeBron — I think leaving that series, people were like, ‘Wow, that guy was just better than LeBron in a Finals,’ — and he thought that was gonna be it: ‘KD made the right move.’

“And instead people were like, ‘F**k that guy, we’re still not giving it to you.’ And I could feel it in him in the interviews, this kind of, ‘What else do I have to do? I just went toe-to-toe with LeBron James and I won. What else do I have to do?’”

Kerr: “You nailed it. The same reason we got Kevin in the first place was the reason we lost him — he was restless. His first year with us, he was a sponge and he would ask questions constantly. It’s a very different style of play and he was playing with different players. I think he embraced it and he enjoyed it.

“The following year, I felt like Kevin started to drift. My feeling was he started to get restless, like, ‘This is all there is? We won the title last year, we’re rolling again this year, but whatever it is I’m searching for, I’m still not finding it.’

“We had a really good thing and then you could just feel it start to slip. And I don’t know if it was what you mentioned — Kevin felt like he was now the King of the NBA, but nobody was recognizing him for that. He dominated LeBron in those Finals.”

Simmons: “I could feel him — just in various interactions — really frustrated with that.”

Kerr:“Yeah, yeah.”

Simmons: “Almost like, ‘I’m just never gonna get the credit for this, and I thought I would, and now I’m not. So now what?

Kerr: “Right, right. Yeah.”