“I feel great, that’s what I get paid to do,” said Rockets forward Kevin Durant when I asked about how he feels having logged so many minutes this season. “I get paid 50-something million dollars to be available and play.”
KD truly loves the game. Dude just loves playing basketball. Who knows after he retires he might be playing in the streets or another league.
3v3 Olympian until he dies
He’s so competitive he’d just show up unannounced to street games, Omar Little style, to beat anyone who talked trash.
OMAR! OMAR COMING!
“Kevin coming” just doesn’t hit the same does it
But the Slim Reaper coming hits hard af
Unfortunately the Durantula will have to do
The Servant tho
KD COMING!!! ‘court clears’
KD: ‘He needs to know too. Might as well get it from the primary source.’
Durant got the basketball, you got the briefcase
He seriously could do that until he’s like 55
He’s never gonna retire
I remember him saying he wants to play a year in Europe after he retires to really experience that atmosphere
He wasn’t definitive but didn’t rule it out either
Gonna be the first player to willingly learn Chinese, buddy.
He’s gonna pursue his true passion of becoming a full time shit poster on social media
Honestly it blows my mind that anyone being paid $50M to play a game could be anything except profoundly grateful for the opportunity. I know life is relative and hardship affects everyone but still.
Being grateful and truly loving what you do are different things. KD is both
hooper at the core
Big 3 maybe too
Iirc the seasons overlap so you can’t do both
Reality bball series with red mamba please
KD doing a Messi to the MLS move and going to Real Madrid for the final few a years his career after his NBA career is done would be fire
He doesn’t put any strain on his body compared to other players main reason he won’t play center even though he 7 foot tall and also the reason he lied about being that tall his whole career his main thing is shooting over players who have no chance of blocking his shot would of never won anything if he didn’t join the warriors
Glad you got it all off your chest
Am I wrong about anything I said let me hear your rebuttal on how he is not what I said he is
Why would a skeleton play center, are you out of your mind? He would get bullied in the paint while losing his shooting advantage.
Does curry get flak for not being a center too?
Say what you will about KD but he loves basketball with his whole heart. Never sits out, never load manages, never tries to force a trade by refusing to play. The only time he’s not on the court is when he’s hurt.
And he’s come back from some terrible injuries still balling. Nothing but respect for him as a player, it’s good to see someone who legitimately loves playing.
Did you just type “never tries to force a trade” lol
Not by sitting out. By other means however then yes he has.
“By refusing to play”
Did you just not read lol
“By refusing to play” is an important part of that phrase
Don’t mess with NBA fans, we can’t read!
I’ll always respect his love for the actual sport.
KD gives off the vibe of the player who is the most likely to hold open runs every summer long after he retires just because he enjoys basketball that much.
Wonder at what point he’ll call it a career considering that jump shot is always going to be there. Outside of injury, what’s more likely to get him to step away from the game?
Will it be when he physically can’t keep up with the toll of a season or when his efficiency starts to drop far below the standard he holds himself to?
His jump shot will never be bad but it won’t be elite much longer. As these guys age, they just struggle to get the same lift with their declining athleticism.
Once he’s just a 44-45% midrange shooter (still above average) instead of 48-52%, the inefficiency starts to be very noticeable. Currently that’s his whole game.
7 footer with a high release point, he doesn’t need a lot of lift. He’s almost 40 and almost having a 50/40/90 season. He will retire before his shot is no longer elite lol.
Could see him just not retiring and being in some 6th man role when he’s 45 or something shooting the 3 ball on like 40% efficiency
He wouldn’t be a 6th man at 45 lol
Not if he goes to a European or Asian league
15yrs ago maybe but the 6man on contenders usually has very decent defence these days, even against starting line opponents. No way a 7ft 45yo is stopping a shifty guard like Shai or Ant
He can take more 3s at that point. It’s not like he is chopped from 3 point range like Kobe. He is also very tall so he doesn’t need that much lift.
Honestly I think he’ll play until he’s not getting minutes.
I expect he and Steph are the two most likely from this generation to still be playing pickup games here and there in 10 years.
I imagine it’d be similar to Dirk. When his body just breaks down.
He’s already outlasted him age-relative. By 2015 Dirk was a corpse
I genuinely think there’s no NBA player who has loved the game of basketball more than KD.
Kobe and MJ seemed obsessed with winning; Bron has done it longer than KD. But game of basketball seems to be KD’s everything.
Maybe DJ Mbenga loved it more but his talents were limited. You never know b
ungodly ball knowledge
Jamal Crawford up there too. He just loves the game.
If you ever see a Jamal Crawford post on Reddit without an upvote, something’s wrong…because I will always upvote that legend.
MJ loved competition in all forms, but when he retired from ball he gave it up. There are a few guys like KD and Steph who I don’t expect will ever stop playing the game in some form.
MJ loved competition in all forms, but when he retired from ball he gave it up.
I think it was Barkley in an interview when the last time he played was. He said something “My last game in the nba. If I could still be playing, I would be.”
KD 37 years old coming off Achilles injury and still playing every game he can
then you got dorks in here defending load management
Can we still say coming off a torn Achilles when he tore it 7 years ago
Hey man time is relative
THAT WAS NOT 7 YEARS AGO
Time flys
A lot of people are trying not to get their Achilles torned.
It’s understandable for both side.
They can get a desk job if they can’t face the inherent risk
you realize that teams are the ones forcing players to load manage right. it’s not the players saying “yeah i wanna sit out”
It’s crazy to me how few people realize this. Seems so obvious that load management is just an inevitable consequence of teams trying to optimize their chances of winning a ring. You want players to play more, get rid of the playoffs and make the best regular season record champion.
Teams understandably want to protect their multi million dollar assets and know that if a key player tears an Achilles, that’s at least one season down the drain, possibly two depending on the timing. And with all of the injuries we have seen in recent years, it is difficult to blame teams for getting scared and playing things as cautiously as they possibly can.
I think SGA got it figured out, just be so efficient you can load manage by sitting out the fourth quarter without losing.
Why don’t all the other players just do that?
Who’s defending load management on this Reddit lol… yall stay fighting invisible enemies
Every time I say serious injuries are mostly random i get told i’m wrong, without evidence, so there you go.
my goat. Trolls kids on twitter and balls out at an elite level nearing 40.
all while trash talking fans courtside, truly one of a kind
Yeah, if only the NBA paid people to be available
Besides enjoying watching KD play because he is just amazing…his great attitude, availability and professionalism truly set him apart from a lot of other players IMO.
Say what you want about KD, this guy loves to hoop. When you love to play, playing doesnt count as work anymore.
Also took good care of his body too. Not many people come back from that injury like that. Thank God he did.
Favorite player in the league.
Bro gets paid 50 milly to be a bucket. Fair
KD so real
KD a real hooper
KD is a real bball lover
a Lakers vs. Rockets, lebron vs. durant, first round playoff series would be so amazing.
Imagine if Jokic had this attitude? He’d average 50ppg/20rpg/20apg
Now we can go home
Parade?
Lolol
I mean Jokic does have this attitude. I have yet to see a player do more for his team than Jokic both on court and on the bench. He literally flys to game even when out just to coach and help them like the Philly game.
Jokic does like the game that’s why he’s played it his whole life and plays it in Serbia with his buddies in the offseason
He hates the media and the star lifestyle
Huh?
Meaning, that Jokic is nonchalant… KD is legit passionate
Not communicative or emotive and not passionate aren’t at all the same thing.
KD dropping buckets on the court and subtweets off it, elite in both arenas.
KD really does read the comments
Bro needs to go to Turkey and spend some of 50 million.
He would probably play for free, real hooper
Will Kevin Durant be the oldest player in league history? I just don’t see him retiring unless he’s forced to.
And “something” is probably my lifetime earnings
tell that to Ja Morant
KD is a pure hooper. He genuinely loves the game and competing. That’s why he’s such a joy to watch - it’s basketball in its simplest form.
Why he posting like Cindy Crawford tho
50 mil
Wish everyone in the NBA had this attitude
Love it. At least he’s not like Embiid whose afraid if back to backs
Respect for that. KF cope a lot of shit wrongly or rightly but he’s right here. So many others take it he big pay check but don’t work through the niggles and the pain.
Amen brother.
everytime i see him talk i like him more
people still gonna treat him like he shot up a bank one time or something. lol
KD on the Rushmore of Hoopers for sure. The love of ball is unparalleled.
Well, tell that to ‘insert star player that sits out’.
! Realistically there are only two notable ones tho lmao !<
Embiid needs to listen up
love of the game isn’t the problem for Embiid, he’s literally played through injuries so many times in his career. It’s that he’s 300 pounds and his knees are practically made of tissue paper at this point
If only he stayed with the Thunder or hell even joined the Wizards or something 10 years ago rather than join the Warriors he’d be one of the more universally liked players today
rare durant w
He’s always loved to be on the court. Never known him to sit unless he was actually hurt, and he never half-asses it either. He always plays with effort.
Becoming less rare as he ages imo