© Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
For eight-plus days, Kevin Durant showed up to work, played basketball, and hardly said a word. When he finally broke his silence, he spoke like he never had.
Wednesday night, Durant performed masterfully, making his first six shots, flirting with a triple double, and locking in as much defensively as we’ve seen all year. The Warriors beat the visiting San Antonio Spurs by 39 points. One hour later, no one seemed to care.
That’s because Durant, much to the surprise of the Warriors PR staff, finally had a press conference.
All the anticipation had built up since Durant cut off media sessions around the same time the New York Knicks traded franchise cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis and three more players to the Dallas Mavericks last week. The move opened enough cap space for the Knicks to sign one, potentially two, superstars. Durant has been linked to the Knicks for months, as he is expected to opt out of the final year of his current deal and enter free agency this upcoming summer. Knowing he would be questioned about his potential future with the Knicks, Durant shut everyone out — until Wednesday night.
After answering a basketball question to start off his press conference, Durant got testy when prodded about his recent silence.
“Why do you care?” Durant shot back. “I just didn’t feel like talking.”
Durant was questioned four more times. Each answer seemed to rise a couple octaves and turn more confrontational. He called out The Athletic‘s recent report, stating “most people within the Warriors either think Durant is leaving or profess not to know one way or the other.” He said he has nothing to do with the Knicks. He told the room full of reporters to grow up.
“Why I got to talk to you?” Durant said.
Because he’s one of the most universally recognizable athletes. Because it raises suspicions if he doesn’t. Because it’s his job, and he’s contractually obligated to do so.
There were plenty of alternatives to Durant’s eight-day silent treatment. When asked about the numerous reports detailing his interest in the Knicks, he could have said he will keep his options open, which was already understood when he chose not to sign a long-term deal with the Warriors last year. Durant could have respectfully requested not to be questioned on the topic, choosing to address it at a later time, and talk about his focus on winning his third NBA title with the Warriors in as many seasons. He could have deflected and glowed about his time with the Warriors, which may have yielded hope to him re-signing, but beaten the alternative.
Stewing in silence made things worse.
Durant’s behavior has been abnormal because he is usually affable with the media, whether consistently appearing on podcasts or accepting Player of the Year awards from this station in good spirit. By all accounts, he’s a friendly, laid-back guy. But it seems he’s still trying to figure out how to handle the so-called outside noise. He distanced himself before he was even asked about the Knicks.
Doing that, ironically, brought a conversation he was trying to avoid back to the forefront.
There has been plenty of social media chatter over the past day chastising the media for “vilifying” Durant. Let’s take a couple steps back. Consider this: the NBA’s richest franchise just cleared loads of cap space so they could land Durant and another superstar.
Wouldn’t the logical follow-up, even if Durant didn’t suddenly stop talking for eight days, be to simply ask him his thoughts on the series of moves? Isn’t that prospect — the two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP leaving the most indomitable NBA team in decades — a more important story than these meaningless regular season games? It would be careless for the media to ignore the Knicks’ recent move entirely, considering Durant has been linked with the Knicks long before the Porzingis trade.
Of course, none of us can begin to understand Durant’s daily life. He’s the subject of constant conversation, whether praise or derision. It’s understandable that he just wants to play basketball and be left alone. But he has made millions of dollars because personalities like his drive the league and attract fans. Wherever he plays is totally his decision, but let’s not act like it doesn’t affect a whole lot of people, too.
And let’s also not act like Wednesday’s press conference is going to quiet the noise that Durant claims he’s trying to avoid.
After Durant left his presser in a huff, Stephen Curry weighed in on KD’s frustrations with the media.
“Honestly, I think it’s him not being able to control his own voice,” Curry said.
Controlling and eliminating his voice are two different things. If he wants to control his voice, going silent probably isn’t the best course of action. But Durant chose to do that, which has only added to the suspense of his upcoming free agency.