Kevin Durant isn’t interested in telling people what to do.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have been two of the biggest stories in the NBA to start the season. Of course, a lot of this has to do with the fact that the Nets are a disaster. Kyrie was suspended for antisemitic rhetoric, while Durant has essentially had to fend for himself.
In a recent interview with Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, Durant made a whole slew of eye-opening statements. He started off by claiming that his starting five is not good enough to win. Furthermore, he took a shot at Steve Nash and his practicing regimens.
On the topic of being a leader, Durant was particularly blunt. As you will read, Durant took offense to the idea that he was supposed to tell Kyrie to get vaccinated. He feels as though everyone on the team is a grown man, and that they should be left to their own decisions.
“I’m not a leader? What the fuck does that mean?” Durant said. “A lot of people say I’m not a leader because I didn’t tell Kyrie to get vaccinated. Come on. Or I didn’t condemn Kyrie for leaving the team, going out and living his life. I’m not about to tell a grown-ass man what he can and can’t do with his own life and dissect his views or how he thinks about shit.”
As for Irving’s more recent actions, Kevin Durant isn’t trying to get involved. He admits that a dialogue can be had, but it should ultimately remain behind closed doors.
“We can have a conversation and exchange perspectives on how I feel about the topic and you feel about the topic, but everybody else don’t need to know or hear about our conversations because we’re grown-ass men. I don’t operate like that,” Durant explained.
Clearly, Durant is tired of having to answer for his teammates. It is understandable, as he didn’t ask for these issues to come up. Regardless, he has yet to show himself to be a true leader, and his recent comments exacerbate that.
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