NBA-Durant leaving Thunder to team up with Curry's Warriors

* Also met with Thunder, Clippers, Celtics, Spurs and Heat

* Durant was selected second overall in the 2007 NBA Draft (Recasts with details and quotes)

July 4 (Reuters) - Former Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant is joining the Golden State Warriors, giving the team perhaps the best consolation prize they could have hoped for after losing the NBA Finals in crushing fashion last month.

Durant's decision, which he announced on Monday in a piece posted on the Players' Tribune website, was the most highly anticipated move of the NBA's offseason and capped what he called the most challenging few weeks of his professional life.

"The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have…