Kevin Durant: ‘I Didn’t Care About Being the King of New York’

Kevin Durant was rumored to potentially join Kyrie Irving to play for the New York Knicks last summer during free agency. We all know that didn’t happen, as they both went across the river to the Brooklyn Nets.

Kevin Durant recently joined JJ Reddick on his podcast “The Old Man and the Three” to discuss his decision to play for the Nets and look back at the idea of playing for the Knicks.

“I never planned on it…the media put that out there.”

Durant put the rumors to rest, saying that playing for the Knicks was never part of his plans. He would go on to give some of the reasons he never planned on it.

“I didn’t want to be the savior of the Knicks or New York. I didn’t care about being the king of New York. That never really moved me. I didn’t care about being on Broadway…I just wanted to play ball and go to the crib and chill. And that’s what Brooklyn embodied.”

To Durant, New York didn’t fit his style. The bright lights and being in the spotlight wasn’t important to him, as he said. He is focused on playing basketball and trying to winning a championship.

“Brooklyn was everything I’m about. Chill, on the low, all black everything, we quiet, just focus on basketball. There’s no show when you come to our games. There’s no Madison Square Mecca, all of that s**t. We just going to hoop and build something new in Brooklyn … I felt that way around February leading up until March and then once free agency hit, it was time.”

Durant seems to like the idea of starting something new in Brooklyn. Although he will be playing just five miles away from Madison Square Garden in New York, he won’t have to deal with the New York media and all of the expectations that come with playing for a franchise like the Knicks. After sitting out all of the 2019-20 season recovering from injury, next season we will get to see him on the court with his running mate, Kyrie Irving.