Cut Durant a break — he doesn’t know future

I’m with KD on this.

The endless, relentless, pointless speculation on where Kevin Durant will sign next summer bores me. He’ll sign somewhere. But the man doesn’t know yet. How could the media?

That doesn’t stop the torrent. Whether Durant talks to reporters, or doesn’t, the reports keep trickling out, usually tied to whatever town the Warriors might be visiting. That dynamic peaked before, during and after Golden State’s recent visit to New York.

Imagine KD at MSG! Look, they traded Porzingis! Someone call Kyrie!

It was all bull pucky. And everyone knows it. But that didn’t stop the media from obsessing. (Guilty, as charged.) Apparently, Mr. Durant reads

his clippings.

The mercurial one tried to shut out the noise, refusing to speak to the press for a nine-day stretch. When he finally did speak, I got the feeling he was a little bottled up.

“I have nothing to do with the Knicks. I don’t know who traded (Kristaps) Porzingis. That got nothing to do with me,” snapped Durant, in his well-publicized rant after Wednesday night’s game. “I’m trying to play basketball.”

What’s the problem? Read on.

“Y’all come in here every day, ask me about free agency, ask my teammates, my coaches. You rile up the fans about it. Yo, let us play basketball. That’s all I’m saying. Now when I don’t want to talk to y’all, it’s a problem with me. Come on, man. Grow up. Grow up. Yeah, you. Grow up. Come on, brah. I come in here and go to work every day, and I don’t cause no problems. I play the right way, or I try to play the right way. I try to be the best player I can be every possession. What’s the problem? What am I doing to y’all?”

You’re feeding a hungry pack of wolves, Kevin. That’s what.

As usual, Warriors head man and life coach Steve Kerr summed it up best: “We’re all actors in a soap opera. We really are. We have to deal with that part of it.”

That’s where things get shaky for Durant. He’s not dealing with it.

Exhibit B: “I just don’t trust none of y’all. Every time I say something, it gets twisted up and thrown out. So many different publications try to tear me down with my words that I say. So, if I don’t say nothing, it’s a problem. I just want to play ball. I want to go to the gym and go home. That’s all. Is that a problem? All right, then.”

I understand his frustration. I truly sympathize. But he shouldn’t get this worked up about it. He’s rich beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. He’s at the very top of the game, proven on the biggest stage. Next summer, he will sign a very lucrative deal ... somewhere. And the rest of us will wonder whether we can really

afford that fourth night up in Tahoe.

Yes, this is a first-world existential crisis for KD. It’s hard for most anyone to relate.

But that’s part of the explanation. How could any of us know how this feels for him? His every move and utterance goes under the microscope, inspected for clues and motives.

The man was pilloried for signing with the best basketball team in the world three summers ago. Imagine if you accepted your dream job, only to see thousands of people rip you in public, insisting you should’ve stayed in that crappy cubicle you grew to hate. The whole idea is ludicrous.

But that’s the world we live in. I suppose you can blame the usual suspects: Twitter, ESPN, high fructose

corn syrup. It’s all unhealthy.

The demands placed on the modern-day NBA superstar are borderline ridiculous. They’re supposed to talk to reporters after practice. After games. Sometimes both. Someone like Kerr literally sits down with reporters three or four times a day during the season. He handles it with superhuman grace and humility, but you know it’s a drag. I can remember many instances, especially during the Finals, when he would sit down and joke that not much has changed since we talked two hours ago.

So, that’s where Kevin Durant finds himself. In a hyper-intense media landscape, where reporters and pundits are clawing for market share, trying to make a splash.

And KD is a sensitive guy. He’s usually soft-spoken and affable, but clearly the resentment flows freely under the surface.

The media needs to pull back on needless hype. Durant needs to take inventory and put this situation in perspective. Here’s hoping he looks back at this in 10 years and laughs. The sheer absurdity of it all.

In the meantime, I stand by KD. He has every right to sign where he wants, and talk to who he wants. In solidarity, I, too, will not speak to the media about my summer plans.

As he put it: “I’m done.”