Durant’s phantom haters

In a current TV commercial, Kevin Durant works out like a demon, telling us in voiceover that he is driven by a need to prove his critics wrong.

First of all, Kevin Durant has critics? Since kindergarten, or preschool, Durant has lived in a world of blinding praise. People either love him or they adore him.

So to drive himself to greater heights, Durant has to imagine an army of haters?

Then what? If he wins a championship, he earns the satisfaction of making some of these imaginary hateful boobs admit that maybe they were a little bit wrong?

What’s my point here? This: I’m not sure Durant is a good fit for the Warriors, who may or may not court him this summer. The Warriors run on joy. On more than one occasion I have tried to get Stephen Curry to disclose that he is driven to greatness by a need to prove his doubters wrong. He has had real doubters, starting with the 300 or so Division I basketball coaches who told shrimpy Stephen, “Sorry, son, we’ve already got a ball boy.”

Curry will answer even dumb questions, but he didn’t bite on my “critics” queries. I finally figured it out. He’s not motivated by wanting to prove his detractors wrong. He’s motivated by the fun he gets from running around a basket- ball court.

Same with the other Warriors. We could chicken-or-egg this to death, but it’s a spirit of joy that makes the Warriors six times the sum of their parts. They like the basketball. They take note of their weird gaggle of detractors, the Oscar Robertsons and Charles Barkleys, but that’s not what puts gas in the Warriors’ tank.

Mo Speights, for example, wouldn’t know a Mo Speights critic if he tripped over one. You don’t sink a long jumper and beam with joy at your critics.

Maybe motivation makes no difference. Maybe Durant would fit in beautifully with the Warriors, even if he drags his imaginary haters to the party. Maybe in that commercial Durant is just going along with an ad writer’s brainstorm in mouthing the dead-tired cliche about proving his critics wrong.

But it’s one more factor the Warriors will want to weigh.

Matt Slocum / Associated Press If Kevin Durant, above, gets his motivation by conjuring up doubters, he might want to instead consider Stephen Curry, below, who really was once doubted but doesn’t seem bitter about it.

Brandon Wade / Associated Press