The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 174: Kevin Durant

Episode Date: February 10, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Warriors forward Kevin Durant to discuss his favorite thing about his new team (6:00), LeBron-Barkley beef (12:00), James Harden's leap (19:00), Durant's rivalry with LeBron (29:00), and what Thunder teammate he misses the most (38:00). Then, Roc Nation Sports agent Rich Kleiman joins to talk the 2012 Finals (54:00), "Waiters Island" (61:00), and his most comparable player (68:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Go there and check it out as usual. A ton of great content, hopefully a column for me this week. We'll see. I had to stay up late. I have to drink some coffee and finish it. If not, it'll be early next week. Uh. All right. As promised, here's the interview we did with Kevin Durant on Wednesday night, late night. I will explain during the podcast, but this had been brewing for a while. It's one of my favorite podcasts that I've done. I think it's, there's just something different about it as you're about to see. Very cool conversation with a guy who just loves hoops and just isn't afraid to say stuff at this point of his career

and is candid in a good way, not in a get attention way, but just is a real dude. And hopefully that comes across when you listen to this. Anyway, here it is, Kevin Durant. This is the latest podcast we've ever done. It's like almost midnight in San Francisco. We're at an undisclosed location. Kevin Durant is here. He played against the Chicago Bulls tonight. We just had some dinner. We're at an undisclosed location. Kevin Durant is here. He played against

the Chicago Bulls tonight. Yeah. We just had some dinner. We're talking basketball. And now we're in the back room of, again, an undisclosed restaurant. Talking hoops.

It looks like we're in a scene of The Goodfellas right now. Yeah. Somebody's going to come in and whack us. Yeah. So you played the Bulls tonight.

I went to the game. And you guys are just great. You have a great team, and you're on cruise control, which reminded me of when I was going to the Bird Games in the 80s. I wouldn't say we're on cruise control. Well, you wanted to be on cruise control, and then the Bulls kept trying to make a little bit of the game. No, you guys were, I would say you were in third gear.

We had the game in hand. Yeah, but that's most nights now with this team. I wouldn't say it's most nights. We just lost to Sacramento where we thought we can do that and we ended up losing. So that's the rub is when all of a sudden that night when you think you're going to do it. But this is still a phenomenal basketball team. You can't really regret this decision that you made last July. No, I don't.

I think we're a good team because it's like when you look at it, we don't have like the – a lot of people call it like Draymond and Clay, like superstars. Right. Steph, me, superstars. But I think we're just players that know how to play the game. And it looks so good because we all know how to play the right way. Right.

And we know how to like move without the ball. We don't all need the ball to be dominant. Like, that's why I feel like all of us are just like we play well off each other. You know, we know the fundamentals of the game. We can shoot, dribble, pass. Yeah. I think, you know, it makes it look really good together. Is it fair to say it took you six, six seven eight weeks to get a feel for everybody

it's still it's actually still an adjustment period yeah you know because uh i think that um i'm still learning it's still different it's still like you know when i get the ball up top you know coach kirk's like move move cut cut and i'm used to like standing and waiting for the ball to come to me or just drawing a defense right and like you know when I played before it's just like if I threw it in the post I know a guy's not leaving me and I know if somebody if someone's cuts is going to open up with a backside here it's like you throw it in the post cut move set a back screen set a cross screen like maybe you'll be open at you know and I'll be open under the basket because I'm setting so many screens and moving so much so I'm used to like moving without the ball a little bit more

so it kind of did it come back like it was almost dormant in your body because the way you played on the old style uh I felt like the old stuff I had to play like I had to play like that it was a lot of isoball a lot of one-on-one a lot lot of your turn, my turn. Yeah, that was to my advantage. I think that grew me as a player. I mean, I felt like, you know, in order for me to realize what I had in me once I was like, all right, one-on-one, I feel like no one can stop me. I feel like if I get it out on the top, I got an advantage every time. And now, you know, moving around and then adding that to my game as well,

setting screens, running off of screens, you know, shooting on the perimeter. I feel like if I add that to my game along with the, you know, with the ISO stuff, you know, I could be pretty good. What's been your favorite thing about being on this team? The thing that delighted you the most? I just think being able to play with so many guys that can play me. You know, we got obviously Draymond, Steph, Clay, myself, Sean Livingston, Andre Udalla, Pat McCall, Ian Clark.

Like, down the line, we got guys that can play make. So it's not like I have to have the ball in my hands all the time. I got to rely on, you know, me curating for myself. I can run around and then, you know, find an open spot on, you know, me curating for myself. I can run around and then, you know, find an open spot and, you know, catch and shoot because that's what I really like to do. That's how I started playing, you know, catching and shooting. And I think that's where I'm dangerous at. So I feel like having a lot of playmakers is something that's definitely fun

to play with and, you know, it's just something new every night. You never know. Klay had 28 tonight. Steph had 13, you know. I had every night. You never know. Klay had 28 tonight. Steph had 13. You know, I had 22 points. Like, we're unpredictable. So many guys that can score. So from an ego standpoint, like, Steph, like, he never got going tonight.

Curry even put him back in in the fourth quarter, sent him a couple threes, then took him out, ends with 13. Yeah. You know, the guy was the back-to-back MVP at 13 points in a game, but it doesn't seem like anybody gives a shit. No, I mean, because, like, when you're playing, first of all, you knew he wasn't going to have the same season as last year. Right. Scoring-wise, because we're a better team,

and you got more scorers and more playmakers on the team. So, you know, I think that's what a lot of people didn't realize. It's not like he was having a bad season before. He wasn't, like, he didn't have to score 50, you know, 40-plus points for us to win because we have a better team. Just like Klay didn't have to score that, or me, or, you know, Draymond. It's just that we have a better team and we're mixing it around. With that said, it did seem like in December he was going through a little bit of something.

And you were playing so well. And it seemed like, I was watching the game, I did seem like in December he was going through a little bit of something. And you were playing so well. And it seemed like I was watching the game. I'm thinking like, wow, this is like it feels like it's KD's team. And I know they don't want this to be anyone's team. And then you kind of recalibrated it. It seemed like Steve said I had the interview with Steve yesterday. He said you step back a tiny bit, try to get him going a little bit more. Steph.

I look at myself as a team player. Clay looks at himself as a team player. Steph, same way. Draymond, same way. Just all the way down the line. So any given night, it's anyone's team. It's our team. That's the thing.

Like, we get so caught up in this basketball world that whose team is it? Who's the alpha? Media narrative. What the fuck? I'm sorry. What the hell is that? Like, who's the alpha? Like, what the hell fuck? I'm sorry. What the hell is that? Who's the alpha? What the hell does that mean?

Right. Teams win. Great teams win. When you think about San Antonio's, who's been doing it for 20 years straight, 50 win seasons for 20 years straight. People look at Tim Duncan as the guy, but Tony Parker won the finals MVP. Mano Janova is a huge part of it. Kawhi Leonard won the finals MVP. Mano Jenova is a huge part of it. Kawhi Leonard won the finals MVP.

Like, they do it as a team. They don't worry about, like, who's the guy. Because any given night, we all can be the guy. You know what I mean? I think that's what we have on this team. Like, you know, Steph is, you know, Steph. He can go off and do whatever he wants. Klay can score 60.

He's did it before. Draymond can get a triple-double. I can score a lot of points. Dray can score a lot of points. Dot, Shawn Livingston can score a. He's did it before. Draymond can get a triple-double. I can score a lot of points. Dray can score a lot of points. Dot, Sean Livingston can score a lot of points. It's like we don't care who's the guy that night. It's like as long as we get the W, we win, we move on. If we got better tonight, we realize if we win and we didn't play well,

we realize that we didn't play well. You guys haven't ripped off the great streak yet. The really great teams have that one run where... And you guys, the stats have been... It's not like you're plus 13 points or all that stuff. But you haven't had the 18-game winning streak or the game where you beat 10 straight teams by 20. But I feel like it's coming.

Isn't that fair? We're 44-8 right now. I know. But that's what I mean. I still feel like there's... Like we went 16 in a row. There's something happening. Wasn't Miami that fair? We're 44-8 right now. I know, but that's what I mean. I still feel like there's a— Like we went like 16 in a row. There's something happening. Wasn't Miami that won like 27 in a row?

Yeah, Miami won 27 in a row. That was sick. That was crazy. That was amazing. That shouldn't happen in the NBA. It shouldn't. It was amazing. Yeah, I mean, even Golden State going, what'd they go, 24 in a row to start the season?

Yeah, that was incredible. I mean, Houston, my first year, they won with. Oh, yeah, with TMAC. How many did they win? That was like 22 with TMAC. They won a lot of games, man. They won a lot of games. Dikembe was there.

And now that I'm in the league and I'm playing, and I've been winning for a long time now, it's like, man, that's impressive. Because to win six in a row is hard, man. And then to go win, I won 13 in a row is hard man and then to go win i won 13 in a row before and to win 22 26 22 24 26 games in a row man you gotta tip your hat to that and you're always gonna have those nights like sacramento on saturday night when you just don't have it you're going wrong but you know what calls when you win 13 in a row those games become huge like it's like we want to keep this thing going

because we like we like the space that we're in right now. Let's talk about media narratives. Okay. So, especially with a team like Golden State, that is one of the most covered teams. And you try to ignore a lot of this stuff, but you love the talking heads, and Steph is losing control of his team,

and they put the car on the bottom of the TV. But it seems like you're both annoyed by it and you get a kick out of it. I'm not annoyed by it. I wonder, like, what are your motives when you talk about this type of stuff? Like, what are you trying to get out of it? I know that me, I love talking about basketball.

Yeah. My thing is I want the casual fan to understand what we go through because it's not as easy as you think. It's not just a game. I got to tell my friends all the time, like, I got to go to work. Right. Like, I'm not just going to the gym and we just roll the balls out and we just playing pickup like we at the YMCA.

Like, we got to go to work. Like, this is like you don't know about traveling to a city and getting there at 4 a.m and waking up not knowing where you are like you know this is work so it's not just all fun and games so that's what I want to let people know like this is a real thing like we really put our heart and soul into this every single day and I feel like not just media because every time I say anything about the media like all these guys like get real offensive and sensitive yeah Yeah. And it's like, come on, man. Like you can say whatever you want about me and I'm supposed to take it.

But when I kind of like challenge you a bit. I didn't get mad when you yelled at me on Twitter that time. Yeah, because you're a real guy. You know what I'm saying? Like you're a real guy. Some of these guys are sensitive and they got too big. Egos are too big. But another, you know, talk about that another time.

But I just feel as. Let's talk about it another time. But I just feel as though. Let's talk about it this time. Okay. Like, you took it personally that Barkley kept going after LeBron. You thought LeBron did the right thing on that, right? I'm trying to stay out of that. Okay, stay out of it. But I understand why LeBron feels that way because this is a fraternity, man.

But that's the part that upsets you is you feel like you're all in it together. Whatever he said about LeBron and whatever LeBron said, that's their thing. What I'm looking at is this is a fraternity, man. No matter if we're competing against each other and errors and you compare errors, we're brothers. We're a minority of the world as far as NBA players. We're supposed to take care of each other. You can't throw your brothers under the bus on TV like that. You know, this is like your generation is the reason why we picked up a basketball.

Right. So you're almost like more disappointed. I'm more disappointed. Because you love Barkley and you loved all those guys. That's why you play basketball. Man, they're the reason why I picked up a ball. I wore, you know, 34 because like, man, Barkley wore that. Hakeem Olajuwon wore that.

Like, I'm not saying Hakeem Olajuwon said anything, but just the fact that, like, we wanted to be y'all. And we wanted to be like we love when you guys pass us the torch. So it's like I understand the criticism, but at the same time, you got to know what we go through and how that makes us feel because everybody's doing that. To hear from an ex-player and then Barkley's just not a player. He's elite. He's the top of the tops.

He's the 19th best player of all time. There's a lot of players that play in this league, and for you to say that, that's a big deal. When I did my book, I did my pyramid in 2009. And him and Malone and Julius and Bob Pettit. They were great, man. Now Dirk's moved up there. And I got to be honest, if you keep putting up these seasons, you're going to be on that list. We'll see.

What are you, season nine now? Ten. Season ten? You averaged 30 a game in your third year? Twice. I averaged 30 twice. But in your third year, you did it yeah so you keep you keep adding up those years man you make that list nobody remembers that you know so i remembered it well you're a basketball guy a lot of people keep you know they stay in the moment a lot so why do you think that ex-players on tv

seem to take certain things personally like why why do you think they're so beholden to, well, in my era, this happened and this happened and that happened and now this is happening and that never would have flown when I played. You know what the crazy thing is? Like, I can't totally blame them because I look back and I'd be like, yo, these high school kids, man, they're not doing the way we was doing. You know what I'm saying? And then I got to be like, yo, just like, it's a different time.

Let them do what they do. Right. But I think money plays a huge factor in it to me personally because, like, you know, it's a lot being thrown at Barkley and T-Mac and Chauncey Billups. Those guys are playing right now. That makes so much money because they were great players and they won titles, like, they're MVPs and, like, all-NBA first teams, so they'll make tons of money.

And I think they look back and see some of these guys that make money, and they're like, man, he wasn't doing half what I was doing in the league. Right. So they kind of build up that. I don't even know what to call it. Imagine how Oscar Robertson felt. Exactly. He's making like $100,000 a year.

But the thing is they, players respect what they did. They paved the way for us to be doing this. And the players that come after us, they're going to be making more than us at some point. So like is it about the game or is it about you? Because for me

and I'm sure a lot of my peers it's about the game of basketball and how it's growing and how you're leaving it. You know what I mean? I want people to know about the game. That's the most important thing is the basketball, man.

It's not about you. It's not about what you made, what you did. It's about did you grow the game? Did you change someone else's life that loves to play basketball? So if it's about that, then that's all that really matters.

One of the things I liked about how you've grown over the last year as a public figure that loves to play basketball. So if it's about that, then that's all that really matters. One of the things I liked about how you've grown over the last year as a public figure is, you know, even when you were on my show and we were talking with Nas about just about how people treated you as you were making that decision, and they didn't care about you as a person. You're just like basketball guy choosing a team and they're not thinking about some of the lifestyle issues that might have played into it or just where you are as a guy in your late 20s.

Yeah. And you seem really frustrated by that, that people don't see you as a human. Yeah, I was frustrated at that, but that's early on. Look, I've never been in this position before. I don't know how to handle it. It's not like I've done this before. I didn't know how the backlash, I knew it would be backlash,

but I didn't know exactly what had happened. Yeah. That's just, you know, I didn't know. I went from being like the choir boy at NBA into just being this like, quote unquote, whatever you want to call me, put a word in there. Do you feel like you were sheltered in OKC because they definitely like they have a lot of young players there no I felt like I could say what I wanted as like as I got older yeah but I did a great job of like making sure

like we were protected I think that was that was that was pretty good about the situation but I also felt like sometimes where I wanted to talk to maybe you or some of the guys I really respect in your business, I understood why they wouldn't let us talk to it. Distractions are huge in this league, man. It really matters. Distractions really can seep in and kind of take a hold of your team, and I understood why they didn't want that to happen. So I respect it, man.

I obviously wanted to talk a little bit more about some stuff, especially protect myself a little bit and take up for myself. But I understood why. Well, like you kept quiet. The Harden trade, that was your buddy. Yeah. You kind of towed the company line on that one, didn't say that much. But you had just signed a big deal, a big extension there two years earlier.

And then Westbrook signed the previous summer. And I don't know, man. I went to those games. I thought you were pretty close against Miami, those first four. Yeah, we were. Those first four games came down to one play each. Yeah, we were. I think we were all young.

We were 23 years old. First taste of the finals. Miami had just lost a heartbreaking series the year before. So they were all hungry. I could feel it. They were hungry, man. And I felt like we were hungry too, but it just felt like they were more experienced than us.

And they had a Shane Battier who changed the series for them. Now people don't talk about what he did. He changed the series for them, man. His shot-making ability from the three-point line changed the whole series. And you guys were babies. Yeah, we were babies. I hear a lot of people i hear a lot of people say like whoa you had hardened westbrook and ibaka like we had to

harden right now in the west right now it was like barely right now yeah like we were all young james never started a game he probably started a couple games for us serge was just the first year starting we had traded you know everybody we had traded jeff green who was starting before him the year before. That was Serge's first year starting. Me and Russell were still trying to figure out who we were as players. We were 22, 23 years old, man. You're going against LeBron and Wade.

We're going against a hungry LeBron, Dwayne Wade, who lost the year before. And Bosh. Bosh, who was playing great basketball. And they were so hungry, man. Yeah. And, like, we were, too, but it was, like I said, the experience is the reason why they were a little different than us. And that's not our fault.

So we were young, and I felt like we had a chance to keep going. And, you know, then the business part of it seeped in, and I understood. And was just so loyal to to the team and and you know everything they want to do so I rode with it just exactly like I should have and I you know well and also you're still trying to win a title and stay focused on the season yeah I was just trying to get better no matter who's on the team no matter who we're playing against just trying to keep growing as a player keep getting better and know, the business part never really took a, you know, we never really were affected by that because we were so young and we didn't have, like, free agents.

Guys that wanted to sign two, three-year deals. We had all young guys that knew were going to be here, so it made it easier for us to, like, lock in and not worry about that type of stuff. They actually did a great job. Scotty Brooks don't get enough credit for what he did. When I was doing a good job in Washington. I was never a huge fan of him in OKC,

but he's been doing a good job at the next thing. I think I was wrong. He's the best. I love Scotty, man. Let's take a quick break to talk about Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans. They bring the mortgage process into the 21st century. You can do everything on your phone or tablet. It's fast.

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Again, quickenloans.com slash bill simmons back to kevin durant when you watch harder now in houston did you did you think this would happen the numbers and the talent that he's showing i can't lie i can't i can't say that i've seen like because be honest he's been doing it ever since he left. It's not like he's been – It was year one. Yeah, it was immediate. If you really know basketball, it was year one. He made an all-star team the year he left.

And not a very good Rockets team either. He took them. He carried them. So he's been going on, what, five years now, and he's been at this level. So it's not like – he's starting to build up. I think you're really good in the league when you do it over a long period of time. I agree. what five years now he's been at this level so it's not like he's starting to build up i think you're really good in the league when you do it over a long period of time i agree and he's done it for four plus years five plus years so i i could i can't lie to you and say like i seen him

doing this right now he showed the flashes like he would take over those san antonio playoff games and stuff we gave him the ball and said go go make a play. And he would do it. And he was building confidence. And I think he would tell you this. His time in OKC around us and Scotty and Rex Kalamian and Mo Cheeks and, you know, Kendrick Perkins and Russ, myself, all of us, we taught each other how to work, how to be professionals. And it really rubbed off on all of us. Look what we're all doing right now.

I mean, it's incredible. You have a chance that all three of you might be first-team All-NBA this year. That would be pretty sick. I wonder, it's a great what-if because I think if they don't do anything and you guys keep those three together, I think Harden turns into this Manu type, right? Like if you guys are together for 10 years, he's this Manu, but kind of more minutes than Manu off the bench.

Sometimes he can take over. But I don't know if he becomes James Harden doing that. I mean, look, we look at starters, right? Yeah. And you just look at who's out there when the ball's tipped. You don't look at, like, does anybody come off the bench? But he plays starter minutes. Right.

I look at the last seven minutes, who's out there. Yeah, who's out there. That determines who's, like, the main guys. And you look at Manu Ginobili, it's to the point now, you don't even look at him as a sixth man. You just look at him as a sixth starter. Right. And a lot of people would love to be Manu Ginobili.

And the reason why I love Manu so much is because one play that told me, like, man, this guy right here is a winner. Fucking winner. Yeah. We played them in 2010. And we couldn't beat them. Like, they were just, we weren't as disciplined as them. They were just, like, more experienced.

We couldn't beat them. And, like, he was struggling. He was, like, 0 for 7. And he turned, on the baseline, he kind of, like, let the ball bounce off his foot. And he dove out of bounds. Like, full-on dove out of bounds. Like, feet in the air, hands in the air, threw the ball back in bounds. They scored a layup.

This fucking guy's just a winner. Right. Like, he doesn't care. He's just a winner. And he's ruthless. Like, you got to have some type of, you got to be ruthless, paranoid, and, like, kind of crazy to be in this league and be pretty good for a long time. And I think all the good players in this league have that. Mano Ginobili had that as, like, a non-starter.

And I think James has the same thing. Right. Just, like, crazy, ruthless, like, super paranoid, just, like, always looking over your shoulder, like, those type of guys. And James had that. And I think Manu Ginobili is, like, really a mirror image of those two.

What's your relationship with him now? James? Yeah. We're pretty cool. I mean, I don't really talk to a lot of guys throughout the season. I understand what he's doing. Especially, he's a major competitor this year. You may be seeing him in the conference finals.

Yeah, I mean, we don't talk, but I respect him. So he can screw off, basically, until July. I'm kidding. Yeah, I don't want to say that, but always going that, but those guys are always going to be special to me. It's the amount of time we spent together you can't erase. So even if we don't talk at all, those guys are always going to be special. We're taping this on late, late Wednesday night.

You're going to OKC on Saturday for the first time. I know you've done a bunch of interviews. I mean, I know you're not going to say that much about this, but I don't know, man. It's got to be emotional. I mean, I wouldn't be human if I sat here and acted like I'm just this super tough, like Teflon, nothing gets to me, man. Like, that's what NBAba players gotta stop doing man like

come on man like these people you're not that tough like right like you're human at the end of the day your ego is that big for you to feel like you're not human like i understand it's gonna be emotional to me it's gonna be emotional seeing those people who's gonna be emotional walking to another locker room when i used to walk past it every game i would imagine that's the weirdest thing right it's like you go to your house i've never been in the opposing locker room so i'm like i'm walking there as a other player and i've walked past it so many times i'm like it's gonna be weird but i just want to see the people that you know i walk through that hallway to see every game like you know i can I can't wait to see some of the season ticket holders

on the front row that I got to know and some of the people in the stands, even though I understand what may happen. But I'm still going to reach out and be cordial and let them know that I miss them at least. You know what I mean? I miss them, and, you know, it was really good to see them. So, you know, that's just a real-life part of what I'm doing right now.

You know what I'm saying? Just to see the people that I've kind of got to know over that time. Well, everybody, like every face you see is going to trigger some sort of memory you had from the last 10 years. Oh, man. It is. I spent a lot of time there, man. And those people really actually think they can, like, I feel like that's why I think they're so upset. Because I was a regular guy to them.

I wasn't just like Kevin Durant. I got my quotation marks up with my fingers. Like, I was, I wasn't just a, I was a real guy to them. Like, they felt like they could talk to me. Man, I know so much about, you know, these people's families. Yeah, but that's all genuine, though. It's not like that is now a fake thing. Yeah, it's like, oh, where's it gone?

It hasn't gone anywhere. It's just like, I don't even forget about it. You know, like John, who works in the tunnel as I was running out to the court every game, like I still know you. You're still my guy. And Miss Betty that worked right by the locker room, like I know all about you. You know all about me. So, you know, it would be cool to see them again people have asked

me why i wasn't much harder on you for jumping to golden state whereas like i i was really hard on how lebron handled the decision were you for a couple reasons um i don't think he should have done it on a tv special i thought that was mean to the fans. I think, like, if you love, if you love a team and you followed this guy for years and years and now you're watching

a special and he's basically breaking up with you on the special, I just think there's better ways to handle it. I understand that. But at the same time, like, at some point

you got to realize, like, take yourself out of it, right? Yeah. You got to know that he's not trying to purposely do anything malicious. I know, but you get how people would see that. And I get how people would see that. Yeah, I understood that part.

I understood. But why would you? Like, you, out of all people, I wouldn't think would be like that. Well, I didn't like that he did it that way. I just thought it was tackyy especially because he was from ohio and the other thing is i just thought he handled the last few months like like boston beat them in the he didn't have the way you wanted him to handle yeah i think that's that's it which is a bad reason right but you don't matter. I know. Simple as that. Well, but here's the thing. Like, you finished your OKC stint,

and you had a great last series against Golden State, right? Yeah. Took them to the brink. Gave them everything you had. LeBron had a really weird last series, and I don't know. It's just something about it, the whole thing didn't sit right. Who cares?

What did he do for that city, for that team all that time he was there? Yeah. He did everything he could. I guess the purest to me was thinking Wade is the guy he has to beat. No, it wasn't. When did he play

Wade in the playoffs? Well, Wade was the guy in his conference. When did he play Wade? the playoffs? Well, Wade was the guy in his conference. When did he play Wade? LeBron and Wade were the two. LeBron, Wade, and Kobe were the best three guys in the league at that time, right? Yeah, but when did he play Wade? They were different positions. If Wade was a three-man, he wouldn't have went there. True.

True. I don't know. Wade was a two. For some reason, the way you did it made more sense to me. Because I took it as you were in a place for a long time. You hit a certain point in your life. You're in your late 20s. And you wanted a life change.

And you wanted to just play a different style and live in a different city and have different experiences. Killed me for it. That's what everybody want to do now. But maybe I should have felt that way about LeBron. Maybe I should have been more. Yes. First of all, when you're looking at it. Maybe he wanted a different experience in Miami.

Yes. He did. I don't know. Kill him for it. What do you want to do? What do you want him to do? You want him to do exactly what you want him to do. I wanted him to do what i wanted him

to do i wanted him to stay in cleveland but is it your life right actually what i wanted him to do is go to new york i thought that was the ball but you wanted him to do what you wanted him to do yeah right but is it your life do you got to live it and i realized that when i made this decision because when lebron made that decision i was like man i wonder why he did that well you didn't you you took a shot at him on twitter didn't you let me clear this up this decision. Because when LeBron made that decision, I was like, man, I wonder why he did that. Didn't you took a shot at him on Twitter? Let me clear this up. Because a lot of people would talk to me about like, I took a shot at him on

Twitter. If you go back and look at when I posted that, I didn't post I posted that later in the month. You know want to know why? Because you signed an extension, right? No. Because I seen it was a fake article at that. So now I was like, damn, I feel like an idiot.

Penny Hardaway came out. Penny Hardaway came out and said I would love to play for the Heat. I think I could help them win the championship. And I'm like, come on, Penny. You've been out the game. I played against you my rookie year. It's like three years later, man. You've been out the game for a while, man.

Like, what are you doing? But it was a fake article. So I tweeted that. And now everybody's like, well, you was criticizing LeBron. I had, I didn't, I signed an extension and right after LeBron decided to go to Miami and I had a press conference and a lot of people asked me about that.

I said, cool for them. They thought it was like intentional? It's like, cool for them. We played them three times. I can't wait to play them. It's going to be cool. But I'm like, I didn't criticize him. I was criticizing Penny Hardaway on this fake article I read. You know what I'm saying? So a lot of people took that and ran with it. Do you feel like you and LeBron have been going against each other for a while,

and he's had more success? Against me? Yeah. How? Team success? Team success, yeah. I think the win-loss has done better than you. They beat us a lot.

Yeah. But do you feel like he's a rival? Or, like, do you have a rival? Yeah, I feel like he's a rival. I feel like one-on-one. But if you look at it across the board, like, you know, our stats have been pretty equal now. It's not like he's just been straight.

We've been going at it individually, but if you look at it as a team, they've been winning. But if you want to, since everybody want to make this a one-on-one thing,

look at the stats across the board. Is that the guy you, do you measure yourself against anybody? Yep. So it would be LeBron, right? Him, Melo, Kobe.

Kobe doesn't play anymore. You don't have to measure yourself against him. But I did, I still do. Kobe's an entrepreneur now. But I still measure myself, Kobe. Kobe doesn't play anymore. You don't have to measure yourself against him. But I did. I still do. Kobe's an entrepreneur now. But I still measure myself against Kobe. Not Larry Bird? You're hurting my feelings now.

Dr. J, George Gervin, Bernard King, Paul Pierce, Tracy McGrady. That's why I get so upset at, like, Tracy. Like, what are you talking about, bro? Reggie Miller. Like, all those guys. I look at myself and I'm like, damn, did I play better than Reggie did tonight? Did I play better than T-Mac? Like, I really look up to these guys, man. And I really, no matter what they say about me, how they feel about what I did or anything,

like, those dudes are still, they still got a huge influence on what I do as a basketball player and how I approach work every day. That's most important. What I do off the court, what decisions I make, that type of stuff, you can go ahead and say what you want, but I got nothing but respect for you as a player. I want to be you. I want to be better than you.

I want to accomplish the stuff that you accomplish in the league. I want people to look at me as a basketball player. I have a theory for you that you've in the league. I want people to look at me like as a basketball player. I have a theory for you that you've never heard before. What? I think you're very lucky with how you, the year you came into the league and the people that were in it was great for you because you came in right as the league was hitting this little talent boom.

Yeah. And you can't, you had the last edge of the Kobe generation. So you get to measure yourself against those guys, try to catch them. I said Kobe wouldn't win his two titles, though,

so I wouldn't say the last edge. I feel like Kobe was in his prime. Well, that means the last half of his, yeah. I feel like he was just in his prime then. His second prime, yeah. He was good.

Yeah, second prime. 24 prime. Then you had the Duncan, Dirk, all those guys. Yeah. All professionals, all kicking ass. I came in at the perfect time, so when I hear these guys say, like, our generation, I'm like, shit, I was in y'allirk, all those guys. Yeah. All professionals, all kicking ass. I came in at the perfect time.

So when I hear these guys say, like, our generation, I'm like, shit, I was in y'all generation too. Right. But then you have this, the generation you have now. And now you have all these young dudes that are like these freaks. You got the Giannis and Porzingis. The thing that trips me out is, like, a lot of these people say, it's no it's no parody in the league i'm like hey my fault y'all drafting two or three 18 year olds every year right and you're training and you and you firing coaches every year it's not my fault like you're trying to get younger that's

not on me that's not on us so like when i feel like the league is going like like look at yannis yannis out of the compo man it's fucking this guy. He's scary. Him and Jabari Park together is scary. He's even more of like a unicorn than you were. He's, I think for me, he's more athletic than I am. He's like longer than me. He's faster. He's stronger. He's going to be stronger than I am.

Was he on your radar immediately? Or did you like? I think how hard he played his rookie year. I was like, this guy plays extremely hard. And a lot of people told me that he'd look up to me. And I didn't know that, but like a lot of people say

that he... And we played in Milwaukee one time and I was working out before the game and I just seen him staring at my... Just watching me

the whole time. I was like, man, it feels good that I can influence a young guy like that. Yeah, that whole generation, now you're the guy... You're the same way you looked at

Kobe. Yeah, and it's pretty dope. That's all I wanted. I wanted to influence these guys. I wanted to, like, have them look at me as, like, man, that's a standard. So to see him playing well, I'm loving it right now, because

he's one of those guys that I really enjoy watching. I watch play, and I watch him play a lot, and then I play against him, and I'm like it right now because he's one of those guys that I really enjoy watching. I watch play, and I watch him play a lot, and then I play against him, and I'm like, this guy is dangerous. And you like Devin Booker too, right? I really like Devin Booker. It's a lot of young guys that I watch in this league. I really built a lot of relationships with a lot of these young guys

because I want to give them my experiences and off the court you know help them you know off the court and let them know how it is coming in as an 18 year old in the league and being you know a baby boy and just jumping into like the breadwinner of your family like that's hard we don't think about that a lot right like you don't think about like how it is on your family being like having nothing and you know making money in a matter of seconds and being an NBA player. Like, it's hard. So I want to give them my experiences. People crawling out of the woodwork asking you for stuff.

Yeah. And it's not even that. It's just, like, just going from nothing to something so quick, man. Like, sometimes it's better to have a gradual change, but you go from nothing to something so quick, it's just hard. And with any family. And with any 18-year-old. to have a gradual change but you go from nothing to something so quick it's just hard and when any family and when any 18 year old so i don't want to get my you know show these guys what i went through and hopefully help them change and what's the biggest thing you tell them when they ask you what do i do it's set boundaries yeah i'm just starting to i'm 28 years old and i'm just starting

to set boundaries with everybody family family, friends, everything. And it's still hard to this day. Yeah. Because you're so used to, like, saying yes to so many people and wanting to please a lot of people. It's just the nature of being a good person almost, like, you know what I mean? So showing them, like, man, telling them, like, man, sometimes you got to set boundaries with your family and let them know what I mean? So showing them, like, man, telling them, like, man, sometimes you got to set boundaries with your family

and let them know what it really is. Like I said earlier, you have a job. This is your job every single day. You got to clock in every day if you want to be great. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So just let them know that type of stuff, man. It feels good influencing the guys that come after me.

That's what it's all about. That's what I really, when I'm done the game, I'll be like, look, Giannis, you're doing it well. At 30 years old, you're going to be one of the greatest players to ever play. I'm happy for you. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

A lot of those players now don't really say that to us. Are you amused that people are so fascinated by you and Westbrook? Yeah, it's pretty weird to me. That they're reading their slow-motioning clips when you guys are walking by each other in a game trying to figure out if you looked at them? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'm really tired of talking about it, to be honest. I'm tired of hearing about it. I wasn't even going to ask you about it, but I don't know. I'm tired of talking about it because, look, at the end of the day, I didn't say anything about that man's family. I didn't say anything about it. I just switched teams, man. You guys will get it back.

Yeah, come on, man. It'll happen at some point. You guys are going to get together in the summer. Yeah, who cares? You fought too many wars together. Come on, man. You were together for nine years, right? Eight, nine years.

Come on. It'll be fine. Who cares? Bro, you're living a life. You're living a great life. Your family's living a great life. I'm enjoying myself. You're enjoying it.

Like, who gives a shit? I have a really serious question that you haven't been asked yet. Go ahead. Who do you miss more, Stephen Adams or Ennis Cantor, if you had to pick? I miss them both. No, but you have to pick. I can't say. I can't pick one.

It's like just one or the other. Like, man, I wish. I really, really enjoy going into practice and really like Ennis. It's all right. Keep working hard. I really enjoyed that. Deep down inside. So you miss Ennis more?

I really miss Ennis loser he was the favorite I like I we I gave Steven we called Steven I gave him the Steve O name like you hear the people call him Steve O like I gave him that nickname and I miss him and he was just so fun and just like free and I like, why are you so – why are you like this? Why are you not as serious as I am? And now I'm like, I should have been more like Steve-O than me. You know what I'm saying? So I miss him.

I miss Ennis a lot because, like, you can tell he's been scarred, and he's kind of, like, needed some, like, loving. You know what I'm saying? I felt like I provided that for him, even though he's taking a lot of shots at me on Twitter. But, hey, it is what it is. Were they good natured shots or were they real shots? They were kind of soft.

They were rubber bullet shots. They weren't real yellow. They weren't real full metal jackets. Didn't he try to talk trash to you at one of the games you guys had? No, he didn't try to talk trash. No? I think you're't try to talk trash. No? I think you're good with all those guys. Here's the thing.

I know I am. It's sports. You guys are playing. The fans are probably looking down like, why are you talking to him? It's ridiculous. You shouldn't be talking to him. It's like when you and Draymond had the thing in Sacramento. It's like, these guys are buddies.

This is what happens when you play sports day in and day out. You get mad at each other every once in a while. Or you yell at each other or whatever. First of all, you're talking to a bunch of people who never played in a team environment before. So they wouldn't know. Right. They don't even work well at their offices.

They don't even work well with their employees. So how can you tell me how to be a good teammate and what we're supposed to do? I would think it'd be weirder if you and Draymond didn't get mad at each other three times a year. I needed it. I was going off the deep end that game. I was like, man, I need a little extra flair, yo. I need something.

So Draymond seeing that, that's how tight we are. Yeah. Because Draymond will see that and he'll be like, yeah, K needs some, he need to push. Because I'm like, man, I'm just like, man, I just need some motivation. I need some extra, like, I just need an extra push sometimes. Well, people don't realize an NBA season is like a marriage. Like, it's day in, day out, day in, day out. It'd be weird if you were married and didn't get in an argument with your wife or husband.

I see these people more than my family. Yeah. I don't think they realize that. I haven't seen my mom since Christmas Day. Seriously? Yes. Where's she living now? She lives in Maryland.

I've seen Draymond's family more than mine's. I've seen Steph's family more than mine's. All right, we're going to bring in Rich Kleiman in a second, Kevin Durant's agent. But first, I keep telling you to stop wasting money on expensive takeout. And I keep telling you to sign up with Blue Apron. But I'm not sure you're following my advice yet, and I don't understand it. For less than $10 per meal, Blue Apron will deliver you all the fresh ingredients you need for a delicious home-cooked meal. They have the highest standards for ingredients, and they build a community of home chefs that has no rival.

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if you go to blueapron.com slash BS. Again, blueapron.com slash BS. You could be eating chicken stir fry in days. Just do it. Blue Apron, a much better way to cook and now back to kevin durant come on rich rich climbing rich climbing rich come on this is your 10 minutes of fame i want to hear your hot takes i want to hear your takes because it's like rich climbing is my business partner and one of my best friends.

Knows all about me. At Roc Nation. Here, give me that. He's online reading about Charles Oakley. Crazy situation. Hold this like you're Jeff Ross at a roast. So you came from the hip-hop world. No. No, I mean before you got into sports you were

yeah you were an agent in the music industry yes mostly hip-hop hold the mic a little closer mostly hip-hop and then i think i would have been a hip-hop i would know how to hold the mic and then true and then uh and now you're into sports. Yes. Compare and contrast. Compare and contrast. Those two worlds. I always wanted to be in sports.

Yeah. I learned how to read from the New York Times sports section. I wanted to know how to read box scores when I was four years old. Okay. So sports was everything for me. I ended up in music. I love music. I love the business of music, but I was a sports guy in my eye in the sports world my whole life. I met Kevin through the music business when he was 19.

Almost 10 years ago. I mean, there's no difference for me. I love sports more than I love music. The only thing that I think is the same is that these are people that mastered their craft. These are people that have worked hard from the moment they realized this is what they wanted to do for a living and nine out of ten times came from situations that every setback in the world was there to kind of keep them from achieving their goals so they share that same principle yeah for me though i can relate much more just being that i truly was just like an unhealthy

sports fan yeah like true like i can't stop reading about this charles oakley thing because like charles oakley was like my hero for god's sakes like i really can't get over it so the idea that i can manage kevin's life and be a part of his life every day but the backbone of it is that i get to go to basketball games every day of my life like that's what I wanted to do so you know I think the only difference is that like I liked music yeah and I think I was good at it I love sports and I think I'm great at what I'm doing now because of how much I love it what did you think was the most unfair thing about uh Kevin switching teams that you that became a narrative that you didn't like? I mean, I don't think any of it was unfair.

I think it was expected. I just think that what was... Nothing was unfair. Nobody owed Kevin an appropriate reaction. That's fair. What would have been unfair is if Kevin didn't do what he wanted to do. That would have been unfair, right? So had Kevin what he wanted to do. That would have been unfair, right? So had Kevin decided to make 10 million people happy as opposed to himself,

that would have been unfair. That was really like the only mandate for us in making the decision was just like, okay, you can do whatever it is you want. I'm going to ride with you regardless. Everybody that was in the house in the Hamptons told him the same thing. You could tell he was struggling. But the only mandate was you got to figure out at this point in your life, at 28 years old or 27 at the time,

the crossroads you're at, are you going to make a decision for yourself and everybody that cares about you will fall in line? And like you said, it's just basketball and your relationships with those people that love you will be the same eventually. Or are you going to make a decision because you don't want to let down 10 million people right and like in any other walk of life

that would be a no-brainer like we don't make decisions where we're like yo should we uh should we take the kids to school today or should i have the babysitter take the kids to school man what are 10 million people going to think if i just don't we don't have things like that that we have to think about we just do what we want to do right so for him it was just like kevin please just do what you want to do that was it and i and i played devil's advocate across the board just so he could really understand if he was doing what he wanted to do so the only unfair thing i think is that like people don't understand that that plays a part in it. But that's, you know, that's the gift and the curse of the luxuries they get.

I mean, there's a lot of things they get that are unfair to all of us. Yeah, that is true. Like we look at everything else. We're like, shit, their life is unfair. Like, why don't we get that? But that's just all it is, is that, you know, I think that the fair thing was that he did what he wanted to do. So I was happy for him. But you're also a really freaking competitive guy,

and this gives you the best chance to win the title to be in this team. How much did that factor into this? To be honest, did we talk about that at all? No. It really wasn't. It was a lifestyle thing. It wasn't even a lifestyle. It was just like I really, really like these guys.

I really like Steph, Clay, Bob Myers, Joe Lacob, Steve Kerr. I really like these guys. They seem like my type of guys. Let's go play. Let's go hoop with them. It was really that simple, to be honest. Obviously, we have a good team. We talk about having a good team, but it wasn't like,

can I win the championship right now with you? Let's go there. Like, no, I didn't really think about that. Yeah, like, my best friend moved from New York to L.A., and he's making more money now than when he lived in New York. But I wasn't like, yo, how are you going to leave me in New York, man, and move to L.A. because you can make more money in L.A.? He just did what the right thing was. I know it sounds crazy, but that's, like, really how practical we were about it. man and move to la because you can make more money in la he just did what the right thing was i i know

it sounds crazy but that's like really how practical we were about it and like yeah you know somebody i'm not name dropping at all but like jay-z was is like the king that's phenomenal right there no but you know what fuck it if that's one of your best friends you got i mean he's jay-z got a name dropper yeah he he was like the king of practicality to us. We would call him in the middle of it. Yeah. And we would ask him these questions that were making our minds spin. And he would answer it so matter-of-factly that we were like, damn, you're right.

It is that simple. It's that simple sometimes. Life is simple, man. Like when people say, was a lot of this because you wanted to make more money in Silicon Valley? Like, no. You don't have to live here to make money in Silicon Valley. Like, that was the last thing in the world. Yeah.

Money, we didn't even say one thing about money the whole time. Like, we didn't even make it about money at all. No. Jay-Z just comes floating in like Confucius and drops little fortune cookies during this whole process? See, you got to clear that whole Jay-Z. Yeah, I need to know more about that. Jay-Z told him to go there. No, it wasn't that. No, I just say it seemed like leaning on Jay-Z is the Confucius type person in this.

No, we lean on people who are actually successful. It's a good game plan. It would be pretty dumb for us not to lean on someone like Jay-Z. So who else do you lean on? Jay-Z? Each other. Each other, yeah. His family.

People that have actually made decisions in their lives. Big decisions in their lives. So you call Jay-Z. Jay-Z's on a yacht in, I don't know, Greece. I don't ask where he is. You don't, you never know where he is.

I don't ask. It's not even about where he was. It's about, it wasn't about like he told us what to do. It was like, such and such

said this and this. What do you think? So he turns into a businessman, Jay-Z. He talked to us, we collaborated. Friend. Friend.

He was a friend, Jay-Z. Okay talked to us. We collaborated. Friend. Friend. Friend, Jay-Z. Okay. Friend. Nothing more than a friend. He didn't tell me what to do. He didn't tell me what he, you know, nothing more than a friend. Did you talk to Adam Silver at all during the whole thing?

No. Why would I do that? I don't know. I didn't know if you had a relationship with him. I don't. No, I didn't. I don't think his answer would have been go to Golden State. No, I wouldn't have. Yeah, I would. I don't't think his answer would have been go to Golden State. No, it wouldn't have. Yeah, I don't know what his answer would have been.

I mean, I'm sure he's probably just trying to stay as far away from it as possible. Yeah, no, I didn't talk to him at all. I don't think you're supposed to go to commission. Yeah, I didn't talk to him. Do you have a relationship with Adam Silver or no? I do. I mean, I like him a lot. I like Adam a lot, but I don't.

You realize you're lucky you have a commissioner that's actually a good guy who makes decisions that are usually the best decisions of the week. I don't know what you're talking about. That's the Patriot fan in you. Yeah, I'm still scarred from my whole experience. We had to win the title to spread our commissioner. Good for you guys. What else did we do?

Did we cover everything? Just give me a snarky Patriots comment. I just said good for you guys. You won the title. Good for you. I'm a comment? I just said, good for you guys. You won the title. Good for you. I'm a huge Brady fan. Okay, good. Love Brady.

How many more years is Brady going to play? So the rumor is like three to four more. He just signed an extension, right? Yeah. What's weird is that, I mean, you know this, the way athletes can take care of their bodies now. But it's a quarterback. You can play until you're 50 years old. Well, he got hit a lot in the Super Bowl, though.

Yeah, but in one game. I asked someone the other day, I said, is Brady a top five athlete ever? Ooh. You know, we just had this conversation, top ten athletes of all time ever. Let's talk about it. But what is the criteria for being that? Is it championships? Is it skill? Is it skill?

Let's not set a criteria. Let's just think about the first ten we name. I would say championships and consistency. Longevity. We talked about longevity. Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods. Babe Ruth. No, I don't know if you can say Tiger Woods. Tiger didn't have the longevity. I debated with

my teammates that Tiger Woods is more accomplished than Serena Williams. Well, it's about the same length of the career. But Tiger's run was, like, nobody ever did that. You just said before, though, how long you do it for, though. But if you do it for three or four years and you're like, and you're like, like nobody's touching you at all. Tiger, Tiger's run was incredible.

So I was, when I was writing my book, I was trying to figure this out. Cause you go like the apex versus the career, like Kareem cream was 20 years of Kareem, right? Bill Walton basically had the one great year, but that one great Bill Walton year was like one great year but that one great

Bill Walton year was like way up there with anybody so how do you judge that versus Billy Cream longevity longevity's gotta matter

more 20 years of playing and you're number one all time leading scorer in the NBA but that's Brady's gotta be

in the conversation but this is why Brady is unassailable now as the best quarterback cause he's he's now 17 years of or 16 or 17

of just being top of his game. Nobody has done what he did at age 39 and this is the case for LeBron. I don't know. I never thought I was going to see a better player than Jordan but LeBron's now in his 14th year and he's still cranking out first team all NBA

seasons. LeBron's top ten athletes of all time. Oh, he might even be higher. One thing I learned about LeBron, I worked out with him. Yeah? LeBron takes care of his body. He knows that in order for him to play that long, his body has to be up. He has to keep that in shape. He works on

his body religiously. He works on his game, his skill. I think i think skill wise jordan is like head over heels better like nobody's ever gonna touch that kobe's the closest but i don't think anybody touched that but lebron's makeup of his body and skill and mental toughness is like it makes us one of the best and that's's the thing, like, the advantage that he has, which I don't think Jordan said. Jordan's the last part of his era had was just conditioning, dieting,

just knowing exactly what to do for all the parts of your body, how to recover from injuries. LeBron's really good at that, man. LeBron's the best at it. You know what's underrated, though? LeBron went through the social media era where he's seen his criticism every day. Yeah. And he worked towards like, alright, I'm

going to prove you wrong. Jordan didn't really have to do that. Right. LeBron worked on his mental toughness through that. Yeah, LeBron went through the whole internet era. Yeah. Like he showed up in 0-2. That's a real thing. Jordan didn't have to go through that. And it's not nothing against Jordan, but he's still the best player to ever play.

But he didn't have to go through that. None of these dudes did. Jordan, in his era, a lot of this stuff was protected. I think LeBron deserves more credit for that. I agree. But when was the first time you were like, whoa, social media. These guys are making fun of my jump shot. We lost in the finals.

Oh, in 2012? What were they saying? It's like I choked and I didn't come through in the fourth quarter. And I'm like, I was 30 a game in the finals. I'm like, what are you watching? And I was like, all right, I understand. I remember you tweeted when you re-signed with Oklahoma City. You tweeted when you re-signed with Oklahoma City when everyone else,

the year of the free agency. Oh, yeah, yeah. We talked about that earlier. That doesn't deserve any praise at all. No, no, but that was a big thing. Why? I don't understand. I signed an extension like everybody else did.

I wasn't a free agent. A lot of people were like, LeBron signed Miami Heat and you decided to stay. I'm like, I wasn't even a free agent. I signed an extension after my rookie year just like he did, just like Carmelo did, just like D-Wade, just like all these guys did. I don't deserve no praise. Everybody did that. I don't deserve praise for that.

I wasn't a free agent. I can understand if I did, you know, as a free agent, but I wasn't. So I don't deserve praise for that. Do you think social media has gotten in the heads of any players? I think it upsets players. I wouldn't say getting in your head, because it's not like players sit in the game like, man, if I missed a shot,

I wonder what so-and-so in Idaho was going to say about me. It's just the fact that, like, how are you telling me what to do when you be calling me this and that when you haven't even done anything close to what i've done the only time i remember it really affecting somebody was dwight howard at that time when he wanted to get traded and then everybody was coming at him on

social media and then he changed his mind and he ended up staying and i always felt it was because he was checking his twitter replies i have no proof it's a. I just feel like he was going through his Twitter replies going, oh, my God, what did I do? I remember that because they had just won a big game, and I think he got lost in the moment. Yeah. And he was like, man, we just won a game. I like the way we played.

They beat a big team. I forgot who it was. But they had a big game tonight, and he was just like, I'm staying. I was like, hold up, that's the heat of the moment. They just won a game and like he was like alright I'll stay but you guys have a lot of dead time

and you're up at odd hours and the the hours that NBA players spend the way you have to peak and nap and you're up late at night and I think a lot of these guys

what are you gonna do you're in your hotel room it's 2 30 no I just unless you're getting in trouble I'm like I'm social media

I'm like I think it's like brand new I'm like yo did you download this Twitter shit this shit is incredible I remember when what was it when you gave the donation to he just bought this school that he's been supporting Oklahoma

City for years yeah and it's one of the many things he's done in this and he's pretty anonymous about all of it. This got out and it was a school that he had bought the land for the school to expand. And it had come out because like they were focusing on the fact that he was still giving back to Oklahoma City in the midst of the fact that they had turned their back and all the shit came out. And I'm reading all the comments. He wouldn't look at it. The first comment was like, come on, it's a fucking tax write-off.

Right. The first thing I said, I was like, all right. And by the way, it was 57,000. Not saying who has money or doesn't, but he wasn't trying to hide $57,000. I was like, really? 57 grand? Come on. I know a lot of people, that's a lot of money to a lot of people,

but really, come on, man. What the hell am I that's a lot of money a lot of people but really come on man what the hell am i gonna do i think the comments are amazing it's hilarious a lot of people are just like i could it's like oh yeah you're sensitive you are fucking you're mad like a lot of people feels like they're there they got hot takes let's take a break to talk about zip recruiter are you hiring do you know where to post your job to find the best candidates? Well, guess what? Posting your job in one place is not enough anymore. For the perfect hire, you need to post your job on all the top job sites.

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The New York Times, TechCrunch, and CBS. Right now, my listeners can post jobs on ZipRecruiter for free by going to ZipRecruiter.com. Once again, ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. Once again, ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. Back to Kevin Durant. Do you only root for the Celtics? I root for all the Boston teams. No, I know, but what are your other favorite NBA teams?

Or are you just such a diehard Celtic fan? No, I'm a Celtic fan. I love basketball. I like watching everybody. Where in Boston did you grow up? Remember John Bagley? I grew up in Chestnut Hill, which is part of Brooklyn. I went to school in Boston. Yeah, I know exactly where Bucs. Where in Boston did you grow up? Remember John Bagley? I grew up in Chestnut Hill, which is part of Brookline. Okay.

Yeah. I went to school in Boston. Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly where he is. Yeah. No, I... Yeah, he's a fan of Boston.

I get attached to league pass teams sometimes. What is that? What do you mean league pass teams? Well, league pass. All the teams are on league pass. So every year there's a couple... Yeah, it's like the ones... Like the Denver's...

Channel 752. Like the Denver's... Yeah, teams like that year there's a couple. Yeah, it's like the ones like Channel 752. Like the Denver's. Yeah, teams like that. Minnesota's. Exactly. Like Milwaukee was a good one for a while, but then they went into funk.

I really liked watching Porzingis, and I was getting into that and trying to figure out why they didn't give him the ball more. Westbrook was fun to watch when he was just being a maniac

for trying to get triple doublesdoubles every game. I float around. But the Celtics are the one. Celtics are good, man. Isaiah Thomas is fun to watch because he's so small. I remember Isaiah when he got drafted, and I was hoping he got picked. When he got drafted 60th, he tweeted. I was like, man, I'm just so happy I got picked.

And he started playing. I was like, man, I'm just so happy I got picked. And he started playing and I was like, man, I'm happy, man. You can ask Isaiah this. When he was in Sacramento I was like, man, I'm just happy you're out here playing, bro. I remember playing against you. Yeah, I remember playing against you in the AAU and you was killing us. Like, when I was 15, 16 years old, I was like, man, I'm

fucking happy for you. Like, when he made All-Star last year, I was like one of the guys like, really like excited for him. You know what I'm saying? Because I know When he made All-Star last year, I was one of the guys really excited for him. You know what I'm saying? Because I know how important that is to him. So I'm glad he's balling on it. Can we interview you? We got to go.

No, let's interview him for a minute. I got all night. All right. Let's interview him. I've been looking forward to this for a couple weeks now. Really? Yeah. I love you.

I fucking love you. Let's interview Bill. All right. All right. Let's hear it. I like you because Yo, let's interview Bill. All right. All right. Let's hear it. I like you because you're such a homer. You were mad at me for like two years, though. I wasn't mad at you.

I was just like, just give it a break. Why were you mad at him? Because he kept talking about James Harden, and I was like, man, just give it a break. Just let it go. See, I would say I didn't go far enough. Who came up on Waiter's Island? You did? I can't remember. It came out go. See, I would say I didn't go far enough. Who came up on Waiters Island? You did? I can't remember.

It came out of Grantland, but I don't remember. No, that's the best. Zach Lowe or you, one of you guys. I think one of us came up with it, but it became a Grantland thing, Waiters Island. That's hilarious. Because Waiters was a very polarizing player, but I was his last defender.

So it was always me and Zach and a couple others were the last five on Waiters Island. We're two defenders of Deion. I'm on Waiters Island. I'm on Waiters Island too. We had a piece on The Ringer this week about the resurgence of Waiters Island. Because he's been hot in Miami.

He's 3-1-12 in a row. Yeah, they won again tonight. Was he here? We had him upstairs here, and I was like, man, we had just beat them here like maybe a month ago. Right before they went on the run. Right before they went on the run, I was like, man, y'all struggling right now. He's like, oh, man, we about to go on the run.

I was like, okay. We'll see. They fucking went 12 in a row. I'm like, Deion is a prophet. We were talking before the podcast, we were talking about A game seven When you look around And it's like

Gut check time It's like going to war Who's Who's ready for it Waiters is one of those guys He doesn't give a shit It's like Oh it's game seven

Fine Deion I'm ready I'm ready Deion I took him under my wing early He really He truly

Sincerely think He's the best player in the league. It's the best. He's the all-time irrational confidence guy we've had in the last 15 years. I love him for it. He really does believe it. He thinks he's the best guy on the court. And I hate him for it, too, sometimes. I'm like, yo, Dion, relax, man.

The fuck? You're not going to get the ball every play. Relax. And then he's like, yo, I just want to make a play. You know I can. I'm like, you're right, you can, but relax.

You gotta love him for it, man. There's a lot of good, a lot of good little quick gifs on the internet of him like with his hand up as you and Russell were he's like,

colorful ball. He's hopping up and down like a little kid. You gotta realize you're not even, you're not the second option, bro. The thing is though,

when you have, when you have a really good team, sometimes you need to want a rational confidence guy. Because that guy can come in sometimes. Like Reggie Jackson did it in that Memphis series for you. The guy would just come in and take over a quarter when you need it. Yeah, Reggie was fucking good, man. That was a great pickup because I didn't even know who the hell he was.

Yeah, Sam drafted pretty well for a while. You know, they did their homework, though. They was on that one for a while. Reggie, Steven. I didn't even know who Steven was. Steven Adams. Who the fuck is Steven Adams? Like, he's a New Zealand guy.

Like, fucking guy from New Zealand named Steven Adams. He went 12th, and I did that draft for ESPN. We had no idea what was going to happen. I think Anthony Bennett went first. That was the worst draft. Yeah, but then it got good because Steven Adams was 12th and Giannis was 15th.

That was the best two players. Yeah. And CJ McCollum was 10th. Yep, he was. We're spending all this time trying to figure out who the best. It was interesting because Jalen and I did this thing. We called it the interview, the job interview. So we interviewed all the lottery picks, basically. Like it was a real job interview.

Yeah. And the two most impressive guys were C.J. McCollum. He's a, C.J. is a, I worked out with C.J. or something. He's a real guy. Yeah, he's a good guy. He's a real veteran. So he was one. He's a young vet.

And the other one was Oladipo. Those were the two guys we were the most impressed by with how they handled the interview. Vic's from my area, so I know Vic. I know Vic. And CJ, he's a real guy, man. He's going to be on TV when he's done. He's going to probably be a GM.

He'll probably be ready for the ringer soon. He's impressive. He interned at Players Tribune this year. Yep, he did. What's your college big board right now for this draft that's coming up? Your favorites. I hate watching college basketball because the refs call foul every play. But I like Markel Fox.

He's from my area, and he's just a stud. He's balling out right now. Lonzo Ball, I like watching him in high school. He just knows how to play. Did you see his brother put up 92 this week? Yeah, but how the hell you let someone put up 92 points? They were fouling the other team to get the ball back. Yeah.

That's not even real basketball now, man. Like, you know, what is he learning? But he's got 92 points is incredible. But I like Lonzo Ball. I think he knows how to play the game. He's quick. He's 6'5", 6'6", play the point, can shoot it. Oh, you like Dennis Smith.

Got the Kevin Martin J. I like Dennis Smith a lot. He's, like, poised. He's athletic. He can dunk. At 6 feet, he can dunk like he's 6'9". You know what I'm saying? That's impressive to me.

If you can just run in the lane and catch it off one juke and dunk, like, that's impressive. 92 points in a game. What was the most you ever scored in a game? In a game? Yeah. 12. 66. Oh, I thought you were asking me.

66? Oh, you were probably 12, 13. Rich Klein was probably at 13 in his career. I had 19 once. 19 against who? My brother. You were going 21? You lost?

21-19? Wait, who'd you have 66 against? In the record part. Oh, I remember that. That was... I never had more than that. I pride myself on not scoring a career high, like not having a lot.

I pride myself on, like, can I get 30? Can I average 30 for a week or two? I'd rather do that than have 65 in one game. I don't know. It's always been that thing with me. You know what's been good about you this year? And this is one of the ways I love to judge the better players, is how much can you affect the game if you took like 12 shots?

Yeah, man. You know what I mean? Like Bird was great at that. Bird would go six for nine, have 12 assists and 18 rebounds, and you'd be the best part on the court, you know? And you've had a couple games like that this year where it's just like efficient. Yeah, I'm just a scorer. Didn't take a lot of shots.

That's what everybody look at me as is a scorer. So if I'm not scoring a lot of points, you don't realize what I'm doing. But as a basketball guy, you know you can appreciate going. I might go two for nine and have 13 points, but I might have eight, nine rebounds, seven, eight assists, three steals, two blocks. Yeah, can you affect the game when you suck? Yeah, man, that shit is fun.

Is the last level of the basketball player. When you suck at shooting the ball, you still can impact the game. That shit is fun for me. By the way, Michael Jordan's first four or five years in the league, they thought he was just a scorer. He was a chucker. They thought all he did was chuck. No, but I'm saying that I think people are starting to see now they thought he was just a scorer. He was a chucker. They thought all he did was chuck. I think people are starting to see now

that you're not just a scorer. If Michael Jordan could be thought of as just a scorer, I think that's just what happens when you score so easily. I used to love with Bird when if he wasn't making his shot, how he would figure out what to do. So he'd just post up anybody.

Just try to get the line. Get some fouls. Get going. Yeah, I'd try to do that. Bird is, man. Bird is... You should watch some old Bird on the YouTubes. I should watch some old Bird? You should watch some old Bird. I was watching Bird at 13 years old.

What do you mean? What do you mean 13? When I first... How old are you now? I'm 28. When did he retire? Bird 20 years ago? Get out of here Bird was not in You're watching

He's called classic I was watching film on Bird Bro what you saying? I wasn't watching live games I was watching film on Bird The guy whose game You have the The

Most reminiscent of Is early McAdoo I never watched him On Buffalo Yeah I gotta watched him. On Buffalo. I got to watch him. That's the one because he was like. That's Jamie Michaels uncle. He shot.

Yeah. He had the shot from like way over his head, but he was, you know, basically a 6'11 center. I'd rather watch Bird. McAdoo was great, but I'd rather watch guys like Bird. Bird was a fucking animal. Well, the other thing with that, those mid-'80s Celtics teams, like your team, they would feed off each other, and there would be the occasional game

where just everybody went up a notch, and that's when it gets good. Will Brady go down as a bigger star in Boston than Bird? Yeah, I think it's happened. I think so, too. So Brady's first. Brady's first. What about Poppy? Nah.

No, I don't think he's up there with Bird. It's Brady, then it's like Orr and Bird and Russell and Ted Williams. Poppy. They love McHale? They don't love McHale like that. No. No. You vault up, you vault up, and then...

Brady is a legend. He's a god. Because football is the most popular sport just from sheer people. Clemens is out. He's a traitor. Boggs, traitor. Why is he a traitor? Because here's what happened with Clemens.

I don't like that coming from Clemens. I know, but this one you're not swaying me on. Red Sox, Yankees is different. No, no, no. He went to Toronto. But the problem was he was out of shape with us the last couple years. And then when he went to Toronto, he got in crazy shape and he went two straight Cy Youngs. And we were all like, it was like, fuck, we want to have six bad years.

Of course he's going to look at himself and be like, man, I need to get in shape. I was shitty in Boston. We totally cared about that. He took care of himself after that. He could have taken care of himself in Boston obviously he thought he was and they didn't

plan out for him so he went somewhere else and was like damn I need to lock in right now if you were in OKC last year and you just put on

20 pounds and then you went to Golden State and all of a sudden you were in awesome shape I realized that I was bad in OKC so I went to the next city

if that happened then I went to the next team and like fuck I need to lock in. That's probably what Clemens did, man. You can't hate him for that. Just don't be insensitive. I told you.

I'm going to continue to hate him. It's not about you. No, that one's about me. I took that personally. That was my favorite picture. It takes more energy for you to hate someone than to love them. That is true. That's actually good advice.

That would be a good senior yearbook quote. It takes more energy to hate somebody than to love them kevin durant put that in your yearbook quote yeah man i want to end this because i want to save stuff for when we do it again in like eight weeks tosca tuesday yeah it's not even tuesday but yeah tosca tuesdays all right rich climbing thank you kevinant good luck this weekend I was as open as I've ever been it was fun right but it was fun

people would like it yeah hopefully they'll really understand instead of being sensitive about everything I appreciate it thank you

let's do it let's do it when it gets closer to the playoffs let's do it we'll do a run back down for it thanks guys

alright that's it for the kevin duran interview and if you missed our interview that we did with steve kerr we put that up on wednesday and he's my old buddy who uh had come on to the bs report when i was at espn i can't even remember how many times one of my favorite guests and then he became a famous coach and that was it so it was the first one we've done since he, since he took the a warrior's job and it was really good. He was excellent. And I miss talking hoops to him. Love talking hoops with Kevin Durant.

Very fun week. Thanks to our presenting sponsor. Seat geek. Thanks to rocket mortgage at quick and loans.com. Thanks to zip recruiter post jobs for free at zip recruiter.com slash BS. Thanks to blue apron. Get three meals for free at blue apron.com slash BS. Thanks to Blue Apron. Get three meals for free at blueapron.com slash BS. Thanks to Channel 33.

Thanks to Tate Frazier and Tommy Alter for coming to San Francisco with me. And for a second time, thanks to our presenting sponsor, SeatGeek. Enjoy the weekend.

Thanks for listening and we will be back next week on the wayside never I don't have feelings with them On the wayside On the wayside never I don't have feelings with them