Joe Lacob gets candid on Kevin Durant rejecting Warriors reunion

Many theories surfaced when Kevin Durant reportedly turned down a reunion with the Warriors at the trade deadline. 

Some suggested that Durant still holds a grudge against the franchise for how they handled his Achilles/calf injury in the 2019 NBA Finals. 

Steve Kerr floated the theory that Durant didn't want to be viewed as someone "jumping on the bandwagon" again and that he doesn't "blame Kevin one bit for not wanting to rerun things."

Durant shot down those theories when recently addressing the situation, telling "The Draymond Green Show" that he didn't want to move teams midway through the season.

Warriors governor Joe Lacob is the latest to offer his two cents on the nixed trade. In a chat with Tim Kawakami's "The TK Show," Lacob hinted that there's more to the story than meets the eye, but he holds no ill feelings against Durant for his decision.

"Jimmy Butler also said that he didn't want to be part of the Warriors. So, I think you have to take with a grain of salt when you hear something," Lacob said. "Now, when you hear it directly from Mr. Durant, that's legit. That's coming from the horse's mouth. But there's always usually a motive for these things. Somebody wants to get paid or not paid, somebody wants to influence somebody to trade them to a certain place. It doesn't always mean it's black and white."

Lacob added that Durant is entitled to "decide his own fate" and he "respects" his decision to avoid switching teams midway through a season. 

The Suns and Durant are reportedly preparing for an offseason split, which could open the door for the Warriors to resume their pursuit of the star forward. The Rockets and Timberwolves are also known to have an interest in trading for Durant. Some have also floated the idea of the Thunder reuniting with the player they drafted in 2007 (as the Seattle SuperSonics).