Former President Barack Obama participated in a wide-ranging discussion at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference on Monday with Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. Interestingly, the discussion was off-the-record, meaning everyone in attendance agreed not to record the conversation.
Reason obtained a recording of the speech, however, that included Obama discussing Kevin Durant’s decision to join the Warriors, and the idea of players sacrificing individual accolades for team accomplishments.
“People gave Durant a hard time for joining the Warriors but the truth is, is that it worked because Kevin, but probably even more importantly Steph (Curry), and Klay (Thompson), and Draymond (Green), they’re team first guys,” Obama said. “So, they were willing to say ‘I’m going to give up some shots, and I’m going to think differently about my role.’
Obama believes that this philosophy is at the core successful organizations both in sports and otherwise, and doesn’t believe it is unique to the Warriors. Obama also pointed to both the Rockets and Spurs as being organizations that have been successful due to individuals making the team a priority.
“Same thing with Chris (Paul) one of my favorite people, when he went to the Rockets. Chris is at a stage in his life, in his career, in his maturity where he’s like ‘I’ll be the number one guy where I need to be. I’ll be the wingman when that’s what’s needed.’
“Part of the reason it worked for San Antonio was the best player, Tim Duncan, embodied that attitude. Hall of Fame player but if (Gregg) Popovich yelled at him, he took it, because he understood he had a role to play. So that’s the kind’ve setting I’d want to be in, and I might win some rings.”
Listen to the full interview here. To hear Obama on Durant, skip to 49:50.