Kevin Durant Mercilessly Heckles Himself to Get Ready for a Game
Kevin Durant is having a helluva 2016. After bolting from the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors (to whom the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals) in free agency, Durant spent the off-season being bombarded by criticism and posing in a wife-beater t-shirt and jeans on the cover of Rolling Stone. He’s also had to sit back and take some subtle shade from his former teammate and point guard Russell Westbrook, who joyously celebrated their breakup by crumping all over an Air Jordan commercial.
RELATED: Why Kevin Durant Lies About His Height
As if all that weren’t enough, the Warriors were promptly blown out by the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night in their home opener, though by no fault of Durant’s, who had a very nice game. So what does all of that stress and negativity add up to? Durant putting up extra shots after Warriors practice on Thursday, and heckling himself while he does it.
It’s a weird experience to watch a player say “they called me a coward!” while hoisting up corner 3’s, especially after losing a single game (there are 81 more to go, you guys), but, well, here we are.
“That’s what I say to myself when I’m working,” Durant told ESPN. “I hear it all the time. You hear the noise. You hear what they say about you. Everybody hears it. So it’s a little extra motivation when you hear it.”
If Durant is to make it through what will surely be the most heavily scrutinized season of his career, he may want to hop off Twitter instead of scrolling through his mentions after each and every loss. If being downed by a talented Spurs squad on opening night is enough to make Durant feel like he just lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals, it’s going to be one very long year.
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Kevin Durant Mercilessly Heckles Himself to Get Ready for a Game
Kevin Durant is having a helluva 2016. After bolting from the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors (to whom the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals) in free agency, Durant spent the off-season being bombarded by criticism and posing in a wife-beater t-shirt and jeans on the cover of Rolling Stone. He’s also had to sit back and take some subtle shade from his former teammate and point guard Russell Westbrook, who joyously celebrated their breakup by crumping all over an Air Jordan commercial.
RELATED: Why Kevin Durant Lies About His Height
As if all that weren’t enough, the Warriors were promptly blown out by the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night in their home opener, though by no fault of Durant’s, who had a very nice game. So what does all of that stress and negativity add up to? Durant putting up extra shots after Warriors practice on Thursday, and heckling himself while he does it.
It’s a weird experience to watch a player say “they called me a coward!” while hoisting up corner 3’s, especially after losing a single game (there are 81 more to go, you guys), but, well, here we are.
“That’s what I say to myself when I’m working,” Durant told ESPN. “I hear it all the time. You hear the noise. You hear what they say about you. Everybody hears it. So it’s a little extra motivation when you hear it.”
If Durant is to make it through what will surely be the most heavily scrutinized season of his career, he may want to hop off Twitter instead of scrolling through his mentions after each and every loss. If being downed by a talented Spurs squad on opening night is enough to make Durant feel like he just lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals, it’s going to be one very long year.