Kevin Durant Says He’s the ‘Total Opposite’ of Weak

Kevin Durant sat down with HBO for a wide-ranging conversation that aired Wednesday night—the discussion centered on his decision to join the Golden State Warriors, and his relationship with Russell Westbrook.

KD disputes the charge that joining his arch rivals was a weak move:

When [people] called me weak, I think I’m the total opposite. There are plenty of times I could have quit in this whole lifestyle I’m in. There’s plenty of times when I lost I could have just said that’s it for me, let me move on … how I’m I weak if I’m at the top, elite level of my profession? I just chose to play for a different team.

 

“Nobody cares about what I want as a person. It’s all about what I can do on the basketball court. They don’t care if I like going fishing on Tuesdays or like taking pictures on the street. Nobody cares as long as I can shoot that ball into the hoop. Why should I care what they think if they don’t really care about me as a whole?”

As for facing his former teammate, Durant says the hostility will not go beyond the court.

There’s no hate in the superstar forward’s heart:

“When you step in between the lines, it’s like that’s when we compete,” Durant said. “That’s when we’re gonna go at each other, that’s when I’m gonna do what I do in my zone, and that’s when you’re gonna do what you do. But I don’t carry that with me as soon as I step off the court. I don’t care about you that much to try and wanna hate you, you hear what I mean? I hear all the time that Michael [Jordan] hated such and such, that Isiah [Thomas] hated such and such. I’m not thinking about you at home when I’m on my couch, for me to hate you that much. That’s just not who I am, but when we play, I’m not even thinking about you. I’m worried about how I’m gonna dominate.”