Getty Steve Kerr speaks to Kevin Durant during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Kevin Durant is an 11-time All-Star, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and a two-time NBA champion. But even for how successful the Nets star has been on the hardwood, the losses take their toll.
Saturday’s defeat in Game 7 of Brooklyn’s second-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks is, of course, the most recent example. But KD also endured a tough loss when he played for the Warriors in 2019, when a ruptured Achilles forced him to leave Game 5 of the Finals early. Golden State lost that series to the Toronto Raptors in Game 6.
According to one report, the losses weren’t the only thing taking a toll on Durant during his time in the Bay Area.
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Steve Kerr Chimes in on Durant’s Time With Warriors
Ahead of the Tuesday release of his book Can’t Knock the Hustle, author Matt Sullivan took to Twitter to share a nugget about Durant’s days with the Warriors, as revealed by Golden State coach Steve Kerr.
Sullivan said he had several conversations with Kerr for his book. But one quote stuck out.
“I could see the strain on his face every day, especially that third year (with the Warriors), just all day,” Kerr said of Durant, per Sullivan. “But it was, really, he was staring into that phone all the time.”
Had several conversations with Steve Kerr for my book, out tomorrow. (t.co/ZNyLbzFQGF)
Kerr on @KDTrey5 in the Bay: “I could see the strain on his face every day, especially that third year, just all day. But it was, really, he was staring into that phone all the time.”
Durant, with his 19 million followers, is the second-most followed NBA player on Twitter. (Only LeBron James, with 49.6 million followers, is ahead of him.) And he’s surely one of the most active as well; Durant has posted more than 24,000 tweets, or nearly three times as many shots as he’s taken during his NBA career.
And given Durant’s penchant for engaging with trash talkers, it’s easy to see how those interactions and all the negativity could add up.
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Durant reflects on Game 7 loss
Ultimately, the biggest factor working against the Nets this year was their injuries. They added up, and by season’s end, proved too significant to overcome.
Toward the end of the Bucks series, Kyrie Irving had missed multiple games due to a sprained ankle, and James Harden was forced to play through a Grade 2 hamstring strain after leaving Game 1 with the injury and proceeding to miss Games 2-4.
“I can’t even speak about how much we missed Kyrie out on the floor and how much we miss James to start the series,” Durant said Saturday night after the loss, via nba.com. “And seeing him, you know, I could go for 40 minutes on both of those two, on how much they care about us and how much they put their bodies on the line and help us out as a team. Kyrie had a gruesome ankle injury, and he was thinking about when (he) could he play next. And that shows that he cares about us so much. James playing on one leg came out there and gave it his all, 48 minutes in Game 5, 40 (in Game 6) and then what, 50 (on Saturday), you know? There’s nothing but respect and love for those two guys; we missed them out there. But we still had a chance to win.”
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