Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant is no longer controlled by championships. After all, he won two. Instead, he says it feeds him his desire to be his best.
“I didn’t expect to be a happy person from a title,” Durant told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview aired Saturday on SportsCenter. “I was just expecting something like, you know, the end of a movie – once you worked so hard and everyone said to you, ‘Yo, this is what you have to work for, is this golden ball and these rings.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, cool, let me get into that.’ And I wanted to achieve that, but I also realized that it’s a lot of things that come into play that I have no control over.
“And I once won a championship [with Golden State], I realized that my take on this game is really about development. Like, how good can I be? It’s not about, you know, let’s get this championship. I appreciate that stuff and I want to win to experience that stuff, but it’s not the end, the reason I’m playing the game. “
Durant averages 28.4 points, 7.3 points and 5.3 assists in his first active season with the Nets after missing the entire 2019-2020 season as he recovered from an Achilles tendon injury.
“I’ve been in the neighborhood, been out of the game for two years, and I’m scared about, ‘What will I do when I get back?’ “And thunder.” When you’re out with an Achilles, you think differently about the game. And my goal is to be out there, you know. Who knows what’s going to happen when I’m out there. I just want to be available. And I think that’s all. I really want to get out of here as long as I can be available. And we’ll see what happens between the lines. “
After missing 23 games this season due to a hamstring injury, Durant returned to a standing ovation on Wednesday evening, came off the bench for the second time in his career and responded with 17 points on 5-of-5 shots from the field in 19 minutes of an overwhelming victory against New Orleans.
That game was only the seventh in which the team’s Big Three – Durant along with James Harden and Kyrie Irving – were on the field together this season.
“I think our experience with Team USA has certainly helped,” Durant said of the chemistry being developed between the three stars. “When you’re in that environment, I wouldn’t say you should shrink yourself, but you really need to check your ego and find out when to use it. You might have to take a step back for the team to be good. I think we all understand that.
“… I love what we’re building. … Everyone is doing their part. Everyone is valuable. And we’re just trying to create something cool for people to look at, and for us to be the players. let’s come play in. “