December 5, 2023, Los Angeles, California, USA: Phoenix Suns Kevin Durant 35 watches the score board during an NBA, Basketball Herren, USA basketball game aagisnt the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena, Tuesday December 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles USA – ZUMAc68_ 20231205_zaf_c68_046 Copyright: xRingoxChiux
Kevin Durant is undoubtedly one of the greatest basketball players of all time. The 2x NBA champion broke into the league in 2007 with Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) and became one of the best young phenomenons from his draft class. However, unlike several of his contemporaries such as Stephen Curry and LeBron James, KD faced issues settling with his newfound fame.
Zach Brown, in 2017, wrote a GQ article detailing Kevin Durant’s rise to fame and his journey of settling in the league. After finding success in his career, KD’s fame grew exponentially, to the point he found it difficult to deal with it.
Unlike LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Brown noted that Kevin Durant was never exposed to fame growing up. KD says it was just his mother and the rest of his family members who were there to support him when he was young.
Speaking to Brown, in a 2015 interview, KD said, “I wasn’t no phenom growing up. It was just my mom, my brother, my godfather, and my grandma. My games wasn’t packed out in high school. I didn’t even play at night.”
Whatever KD started experiencing in the league was new and overwhelming for him. Explaining this further, he added, “So this shit is all new. As it’s happening, I’m experiencing it for the first time. I wasn’t taught a certain way to be growing up. I got taught right from wrong, and how to be fair. Anything else, I had to figure out.”
Kevin Durant also talked about the pressures he had to face from the expectations of him as a No.2 pick in the 2007 draft. Durant exceeded such expectations to become the Rookie of the Year in 2008, 2x NBA champion, 2x Finals MVP, one-time league MVP, and 4x scoring champion. Durant has cemented his legacy by recently registering himself among the league’s Top 10 players for points record.
Kevin Durant has struggled with his personality as an outspoken guy
Though Kevin Durant had several struggles dealing with his fame, one particular area where he suffered the most was in handling hate and criticism. The Slim Reaper often engages in discourses or debates with his fans on social media, lambasting them for their takes on his game.
One of the most interesting incidents to prove this was KD creating burner accounts to reply to his fans. Many had alleged Durant owned several burner social media accounts to participate in online discourses and debates. However, on one unlucky day, perhaps KD forgot to switch accounts and was caught replying to fans from his official Twitter (now X) account.
Charles Barkley had repeatedly criticized Durant’s ability to handle hate or criticism. Very recently, Chuck called the 13x All-Star ‘sensitive’ coming from a generation that cannot be criticized.
In an explosive rant during a 60-minute interview, Chuck said, “He’s very sensitive. Great player. He’s part of that generation who think he can’t be criticized. He’s never looked in the mirror and says ‘Man, is that a fair criticism?’”
However, Durant seemed to be offended by Chuck’s latest statement. Hitting back at the Suns’ legend on X, Durant replied, “This ain’t gettin tiring chuck? I’ll never respect the words that come out ya mouth fam just deal with it.”
Seems like there is no stopping KD from fighting for himself, perhaps on his own against trolls and haters online!
