Kevin Durant is blaming local media for his impending free agency becoming a national story.
In explaining last week’s tirade at a postgame press conference, the Warriors forward said he believes team beat writers have gone “behind [his] back,” by writing that the Knicks’ trade of Kristaps Porzingis may foreshadow the two-time NBA Finals MVP leaving Golden State for New York.
Durant had gone more than a week without speaking to the team’s beat writers prior to his outburst.
“It’s more so the beat writers because they’re around you every single day and they see the pattern of who you are as a human and as a basketball player. I just want guys to be truthful, especially if they’re gonna walk up to me in the locker room after games, and then go behind my back and write stuff like that. At least come talk to me,” Durant said on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Monday morning. “It was good to get that off my chest and let everyone know in the building if you’re covering the team what I’m about. I think everybody understands and we moved forward.”
Durant is in his 12th season in the NBA and one of the two best players in the world. He plays for one of the greatest teams of all time. He is going to become an unrestricted free agent for the second time in his career. He left the franchise that drafted him the last time he was in this position.
Yet, Durant is aghast why anyone who follows basketball is more interested in what he’ll do this summer, rather than what he did during a largely meaningless regular-season game.
“If I get an opportunity to talk to the media, I want to give the fans my perspective about the game, not about business, stuff that I can’t control at this point,” Durant said. “I know how good I am. I know the demand on my skills in the league. I stopped thinking about that stuff years ago.”