Kevin Durant hears the criticism that he somehow ruined the NBA by joining the Golden State Warriors, but the two-time champ and Finals MVP says the argument holds no weight.
KD isn’t worried about his effect on the League’s image.
Kevin Durant to @YahooSportsNBA on claims that he ruined the NBA: "I should be making more money if all that's on me." https://t.co/Z2oXqWMkEO
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) June 9, 2018
Durant adds that it’s much harder to stand out on a superteam.
Per Yahoo Sports:
“My responsibility is to my skills. My responsibility is to myself,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I’m not worried about the NBA. That’s their job. They make too much money. They ain’t paying me enough to dictate the NBA. I should be making more money if all that’s on me. My responsibility is to whatever team I play for. All that other stuff, that’s on y’all.”
Never thinking that basketball would even take him out of Maryland while growing up, Durant is in awe of what he continues to accomplish. He became the sixth player in NBA history with Finals MVP honors in consecutive seasons, joining Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant and James. Only 12 players have multiple Finals MVP honors, with Magic Johnson, Willis Reed, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tim Duncan being the others.
“Kobe, M.J., LeBron, Kareem, those dudes drive me, they push me every day to get to that level, to that standard and I want to be able to sit back and talk to them about basketball one day,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I’m happy I’ll be able dial up some of them and get some equity in that deal when it comes to being able to talk amongst the greats and experience what they experienced.
“I feel like it’s easy to be the best player when you don’t have good players around you. I feel like it’s harder to stand out when you have great players around you,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I pride myself on standing out wherever I am. I pride myself on working hard wherever I go. And I feel like these guys embraced me and I feel like I’m a Warrior.”
