“The talks hit me out of nowhere, so I didn’t really know how to deal with it” - Kevin Durant on James Harden’s trade broke up the OKC ‘Big 3’
NBA and Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, in a recent interview, spoke about the time with Russell Westbrook and James Harden at the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaking to JJ Redick on his podcast The Old Man and The Three, Durant dwelled into the time with the Thunder and his reaction to when the franchise decided to trade James Harden to the Houston Rockets. Durant said:
"I wasn't really hit to the business side of it, like, I wasn't really locked in with the front office to like, yo, let's have a conversation about our team going forward. So the talks hit me out of nowhere."
"I didn't really know how to deal with it at that point so it was just like I'm just focused on doing my job like whoever coming here to play like it's cool like we had a good run we still got good players and you know if it works for both sides then let's just do it."
Durant continued:
"James came off the bench for us and then you see how he plays as a starter it was just like hold up, now was that a good move? You know, four or five years later it was just like, even the first game he had 37'. So in the moment, it was like, all right, let's just move on and you know, we'll focus on who we have here."
Why does Kevin Durant have a relatively low career-high in points?
Kevin Durant, throughout his career, has played alongside extraordinary players like Steph Curry, Westbrook, Kyrie Irving and Harden. Not only are these players the first ballot Hall of Famers, they are also great scorers and can score at will. Playing alongside these kinds of players would mean that the ball is shared more and subsequently the Slim Reaper has lesser shots to attempt.
Until a couple of days ago, Kevin Durant's career-high was 54 points against the Warriors back in 2014. However, he did explode for 55 points against the Atlanta Hawks, albeit in a loss.
Kevin Durant set a new career high tonight with 55 points, including a career-high 8 made threes.
Durant (3) and Kyrie Irving (4) now have seven 50-point games for the Nets, as many as every other player in Nets NBA franchise history combined. https://t.co/xT4ZlvF6Ue
KD has always preached about playing the game the right way and not going to a game and attempting an absurd amount of shots like a lot of NBA legends have done in the past. The only way you'd get Durant to do something like that is if the season was on the line and there was no one else to turn to but KD.
Durant has nine games with 50 or more points in his career and that is a low number when compared to the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. This is because a lot of KD's games are predicated on jumpers rather than attacking the rim. His sniper-like ability from the perimeter and the mid-range is where he gets a huge chunk of his points as he doesn't have the strength to attack the rim and score points.
Kevin Durant is now averaging 30.1 points this season.
Which would count as 2nd in the league if he had played just 3 more games. https://t.co/tr8fbe2SdY
Kevin Durant's efficiency is something to truly behold, as he averages 27.1 points on nearly 50% shooting from the field and more than 38% from beyond the arc. Barring his rookie year, he has not averaged less than 25 points in a season in his career. These are extraordinary numbers from arguably the most complete offensive player the game has ever seen.