Durant looks to assert dominance
Star embraces pressure as he seeks to win first title, knock Cavs from perch
OAKLAND — As the playoffs arrive, there’s little debate as to which NBA player is tugging along the most external pressure the next two months: Kevin Durant.
LeBron James has already delivered Cleveland its title. James Harden has blown the Rockets past 2017 expectations. The Spurs are labeled winners. The other postseason qualifiers aren’t considered realistic contenders — even the desperate, dying Clippers — so any title run will be a massive surprise, not an expectation.
But for Durant, it’s different — even within his own locker room. His three co-stars are already champions: Draymond Green won an NBA title in his third season, Klay Thompson in his fourth, Stephen Curry in his sixth.
Durant is in Year 10, without a ring but saddled with a decade full of near misses, playoff scars
“For me, it’s not about just winning. I’m not going to feel like my life is complete or the stars have aligned when I’ve won a championship.” — Kevin Durant
and a free agency decision that upped his title requirement. Outsiders no longer just demand that his team wins it, they will demand that he is the main reason it was won. On a team full of mega-talents, if he doesn’t stand out — 30 and 10 averages instead of 18 and 7 — they will say he latched on. So the pressure’s bubbling, right?
Doesn’t feel that way. Not around a relaxed Durant, who remained introspective as ever in a chat with the Bay Area News Group just days before his 92nd career postseason game, but first with the Warriors.
“That’s what it’s all about: If you’re not first, you’re last. If you’re not the champion, you’re a loser,” Durant said. “I just can’t look at my life that way. I can’t look at my journey that way. Obviously I want to win every time I step on the court. I don’t play to lose. But if I do end up losing, I look at it as a lesson. Then I come back the next day and try to work extremely hard. For me, it’s not about just winning. I’m not going to feel like my life is complete or the stars have aligned when I’ve won a championship.”
The day Durant bolted to the Bay Area for a loaded rival already carrying a title, a wins record and an MVP, the easiest explanation became the most popular: All that mattered to him was a championship, no matter the path or optics. He must be desperate for that ring. In reality, it’s the reverse. What lured Durant away, ironically, was a realization that the NBA’s Holy Grail wasn’t his.
It used to be. Durant came within three games of a title at age 23, in his fifth season. He was the best player on an Oklahoma City team that went up 1-0 on LeBron’s Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Then he lost the series and cried in his mother’s arms as he left the court.
But this is how the sports world told him things were to go. Greats pay their playoff dues before they get over the hump. So he climbed the ladder and, in 2014, everything seemed to be in place for the breakthrough. He owned that season, winning MVP and then delivering that memorable acceptance speech just as he disposed of the Clippers in Round 2.
“It was just, like, I had such high expectations and I wanted to win so bad,” Durant said.
But it wasn’t meant to be. San Antonio nipped the Thunder in overtime of Game 6 of the Western Conference finals and, two weeks later, took home the title Durant knew would be his. Visions of a parade in Bricktown vanished. Playoff heartbreak hit hard, again, this one hurting the most.
“When we didn’t win, I felt like my life was over,” he said. “I didn’t want to feel like that again. I was so down.”
He fractured his foot the next preseason and needed three operations for it to fully heal. The Thunder missed the playoffs, LeBron returned to Cleveland and the Warriors emerged as a beloved juggernaut, all while an idle, rehabbing Durant saw his star dim and his mind wander: “I was like, I don’t feel like a basketball player anymore. How about I try to finally be a real person?”
Among the things he internally pondered: Why does it sting so bad every time my team is eliminated?
“Everybody says you need that feeling to work hard. But I’m like, I’ve been working hard my whole life,” Durant said. “I know what hard work’s about. Even if I lose, I know what it takes. I’m not going to feel like (life) is over for me. I’m lucky enough to have another chance and I’m going to work as hard as I can until I get it until it’s over and until I’m done playing.”
Durant’s wider world views gave him a different perspective on sport’s set opinions. Criticism used to unnerve him and make him look within: Were they right? Now, he says, with a contrarian’s eye he looks out of: What are they talking about?
“To be honest — as honest as I can be — when I (go to the bathroom) in the morning, I read stuff and I laugh,” Durant said. “It’s just something to pass time. I know it’s not serious, it’s not real and those people really don’t know what goes on in between those lines and in my head.”
It’s what allowed him, last July 4, to pull the trigger on a move he knew would be widely roasted. The Internet was set aflame and embers in the form of snake emojis still burn. Talking heads questioned his competitiveness. NBA legends criticized the move. Reggie Miller said Durant traded a “sacred legacy” for “cheap jewelry.” But two realities keep him sane.
One: Regardless of what’s said, he gets final say on the basketball court, where he remains as confident as ever in his talents. A month after the decision, he was the best player at the Olympics. Then this season, he shot a career-best 53.7 percent and was ninth in the NBA in blocks in his most efficient, best defensive season yet.
“Does it look like I’ve missed a beat since July 4th?” Durant said. “Olympics, I showcased my game, played my game. Then when I came here, I played my game, no matter what scrutiny I was under.”
Two: Even though Durant wants to win a title, it doesn’t consume him. Which means the opinions about how he chases his first ring and who he does it with — and there have and will be plenty over the next two months — matter little to the subject of the scrutiny. This is where he wants to do it and how he wants to do it.
“If we do happen to get to that point, which will be the hardest thing I’ve had to do in this game, I’m going to be appreciative of it and enjoy the moment,” Durant said. “A championship is not about barber shop talk or First Take or just to say: ‘This guy is one of the best.’ It’s about embracing your teammates, just enjoying that moment. Because it goes that quick (snaps fingers). It lasts for a couple hours, hugging your teammates.
“You see it all the time. The champagne, that’s what you want to go through the championship for. For that. Not just to be in the debates of who’s the best, how many championships does he have, what are his stats in the Finals. All that doesn’t matter. It’s about those guys on the court and that journey we went through the entire season. If we get to the point, that’s what I’m looking forward to.”