Green calls out Boston fans for booing Durant, says it might hurt attempts at luring free agents

Draymond Green is not one to hold his tongue (or his kicking leg) and after Kevin Durant was serenaded with boos Friday night in Boston, he gave his reaction.

"Like, who boos a guy for taking an interview. That's crazy. Y'all booing somebody for interviewing with y'all?

"Man, they may scare free agents away. You don't want to take an interview and then make enemies for taking an interview. I don't know. They may want to be careful with that."

I sort of have a mixed opinion on Green's statement. On one side, I can't imagine a player spurning another team because their fans booed him when he was an opponent. Like I'm pretty sure Durant must have heard some boos from the Golden State fans last spring during the Western Conference Finals and he still ended up there (For his part the boos reportedly didn't bother him).

On the other hand, the Celtics have struggled to even get interviews with major free agents prior to this past offseason. By all accounts, Durant didn't have the Celtics as a favorite to land his services this past summer until they went all out with their impressive Hamptons pitch. After that, Boston ended up finishing as a finalist. If not for Draymond's silly suspension in the NBA Finals, Durant could very well be a Celtic right now (Durant admitted that the Warriors not winning the NBA Finals made it easier for him to go there), as many have speculated Boston was Durant's real 2nd choice, even though he said it was Oklahoma City for PR reasons.

Basically the Celtics had a legit shot to land a top 3 player in the league. Let's say for example the previous summer the Celtics had pursued DeAndre Jordan. He of course re-signed with the Clippers. If Celtics fans had showered Jordan with boos during his lone visit to Boston, might that have dissuaded Durant from sitting down with the Celtics? Probably not, but possible. Interestingly enough the team that Jordan did spurn, the Mavs, didn't even get a meeting with Durant this past Summer, when they tend to usually be in the mix for every major free agent. Probably just a coincidence, but who knows.

Personally I don't think most Boston fans, or NBA fans at that, boo Durant due to him not picking their team; they boo him because he joined the frontrunner. Regardless, I could see booing a player for sitting down with the Celtics and then not picking them to have at least a minimal negative effect on future free agent attempts, so hopefully this was just a one time thing.

Related: Kevin Durant talks relationship with Avery Bradley, getting booed in Boston