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Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, injured and not playing, looks on from the bench against the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center on February 15, 2021 in Sacramento, California.
Nets forward Kevin Durant is one of the top scorers in NBA history and twice the most valuable player in the NBA finals. While KD’s list of career awards is extensive, a certain group of NBA fans will forever ridicule him for teaming up with the Golden State Warriors. Now he’s in the Big Apple with one of his best friends, Kyrie Irving.
The current culture of off-field friends in the NBA has been controversial for years. Especially when the older generation of the NBA claims it’s something they never did.
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In the latest episode of The ETCs, a podcast that Durant hosts on his boardroom network, he claims it’s a culture that the older generation started « The Magics, The Birds, The Jordans, they created this brotherhood in the league, » Durant said of Bleacher Report.
Durant makes a valid point and the answers are right there if you have look at the history of the league.
Extrajudicial friendships began with Magic and Bird doing their infamous Converse commercial together, even though the two were bitter rivals on the pitch.
Magic and Bird: A Rivalry Gives the Way to FriendshipThe amazing story of how The friendship that began between Earvin Johnson and Larry Bird dates back to HBO’s: Magic & Vogel: An Advertisement for Rivals 2013-06-28T15: 52: 30Z
Jordan was also good friends with Charles Barkley outside of court until an interview , in which Barkley tore down the Charlotte Hornets front office failure caused a rift in their friendship.
While Durant may believe Jordan pioneered the friendship culture featured in today’s NBA, he recognizes the ramifications that the six-time champion left on the game and referred to in the past.
« MJ is one of a kind, unsurpassed on God’s level, ex iellos, a pure master in this area. I still watch his games to learn, « Durant said of Nets Wire.
Durant also believes that if MJ played in today’s NBA, he would still be the undisputed best at the game.
« He can customize his game for anything, » Durant said of CBS Sports. “He would pass as the best player in the league.
That would be him. He would have more possessions to do more things. More space for MJ to go to work, « Durant continued.
» We’ll never find out, but he’s certainly a master basketball player and as we’ve said, his skills are second to none. «
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Durant suffered a hamstring injury on his return to the Golden State on February 13th had suffered. What should count as a minor injury has become a major problem for fans who were concerned that it was an injury related to Durant’s Achilles tear. Nets’ head coach Steve Nash had an answer for her.
« Through his medical history, medical history, and assessments, we don’t think these two are related at all, » Nash said of Forbes.
« He’s doing really well right now and we’re all very positive about the direction he’s going, but we have to be very positive because he’s a really important player for us. »
The networks hope to have the 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player back soon as it will be essential for their playoffs.
Ref: https://heavy.com