Superstar Downplays Attention From Fan

NEW YORK — Benjamin Pokh is a partner at an advertising and marketing company in New York. He's also a die-hard New York Knicks fan, which hasn't been a fun thing to be over the past, oh, two decades. So when a generational talent like Kevin Durant is heading for free agency in about eight months and when Durant is in town with the Warriors, there's really just one thing a Knicks stalwart/ marketing executive can do: erect a billboard near Madison Square Garden featuring a cartoon Durant posing with Kristaps Porzingis and the Larry O'Brien Trophy along with a slogan — “Can You Make NY Sports Great Again?” — and a hashtag: #KDNY2019.

Nailed it.

“My business partner and I are lifelong Knick fans, and we are tired of all the losing, so we decided to do our part in helping our team recruit the best players the NBA has to offer, because that's what New York sports deserves,” Pokh told ESPN's Ian Begley.

Alas, Durant himself seemed flattered at best while also displaying a keen understanding of the frenzy that now surrounds NBA free agents, even when the silly signing season is nearly a full season away.

“It's the time the NBA is in,” he told reporters in New York

“To be honest, I don't know how I feel about that type of stuff. It's cool. No disrespect, but I'm not really impressed with that type of stuff. I know all of that stuff is a part of it, but for me I don't really get up for that stuff.”