WARRIORS: Friends reunite in Bay Area
would pass up a shot to get somebody else a look,” Durant said. “I always had that trait and that kind of turned into not being aggressive, if that’s what it was called. But I was more so just catering to my teammates, trying to make them feel comfortable. And at a young age, NaVorro being such a leader that he is, he knew that I had some pretty good talent at that age and he just told me, ‘Go out there and just play.’ As a kid, you need that, you want that validation from your teammates. Especially starting off early when I started to take basketball really, really serious, just a couple words from him meant a lot.”
They’ve since reunited in the Bay Area, Bowman cheering for KD to win his first championship with the Warriors. Bow- man plans to be there in person at Oracle Arena this week. Game 1 against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers is Thursday night.
The Maryland boys’ paths crossed before middle school, as opponents in AAU ball – Durant figures around age 11.
As each chased professional dreams over the next decade, they pushed one another from afar without even knowing it, taking great pride in their shared “DMV” – D.C., Maryland, Virginia – roots and making it big in their respective athletic pursuits.
“We really grew up together. He always played Pee Wee football and you would walk to the field and you’d see NaVorro wearing a No. 99 jersey, all black on with a visor, just bigger than everybody else,” Durant said. “You didn’t really know who he was until he took his helmet off. But you could tell that he was on another level, just his focus, just how much he wanted it, his energy as a kid and then it just continued to grow. I knew we kind of inspired and pushed each other without even having to say anything.”
From age 12 through high school, Bowman would play basketball all day at a 24-hour gym, sometimes going from 8 a.m. until midnight. Durant would join him sometimes, though he lived on the opposite side of town. They knew the same people, and where to land a competitive pickup game.