WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.459 OK, let's get into it. It is January 18th, 2026, 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:07.740 and we are just barely into the new year and 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:10.419 the NBA history books are already getting a major 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:12.359 rewrite. Oh, yeah. If you've been on your phone 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:14.099 at all in the last week or so, you know exactly 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:15.679 what we're talking about. It's the kind of news 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:17.620 that makes you actually stop scrolling. Exactly. 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:20.079 We're talking, of course, about Kevin Durant, 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:24.339 the Slim Reaper, easy money sniper. Whatever 00:00:24.339 --> 00:00:27.420 you want to call him. As of January 9th, which 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:30.359 was, what, just over a week ago, he has officially 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:33.350 passed. Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt Chamberlain. For 00:00:33.350 --> 00:00:35.729 seventh place on the NBA's all -time scoring 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:38.250 list. It's just a wild sentence to say out loud. 00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:41.030 I mean, passing Wilt in any category feels like 00:00:41.030 --> 00:00:43.609 you've done something impossible. Wilt's records 00:00:43.609 --> 00:00:46.009 are supposed to be, you know, untouchable. Right. 00:00:46.070 --> 00:00:47.810 He's the guy in the black and white photos holding 00:00:47.810 --> 00:00:49.909 up the piece of paper that says 100. Exactly. 00:00:49.909 --> 00:00:52.049 So to pass him in something as fundamental as 00:00:52.049 --> 00:00:54.770 scoring, that just, it cements you in a different 00:00:54.770 --> 00:00:57.670 tier. You're one of the greatest offensive weapons 00:00:57.670 --> 00:01:00.679 the game has ever seen, period. But the context 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:04.219 of how it happened is so, it's so perfectly Kevin 00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:07.760 Durant. He hits this massive historic milestone. 00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:11.489 In a loss. Of course he did. A loss to the Portland 00:01:11.489 --> 00:01:14.689 Trailblazers. He drops 30, grabs 12 rebounds. 00:01:14.810 --> 00:01:17.290 He's incredibly efficient, like always. But the 00:01:17.290 --> 00:01:19.989 team still loses. It felt like, I don't know, 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.010 a perfect little snapshot of his whole career. 00:01:22.269 --> 00:01:24.909 It really did. Undeniable, unbelievable individual 00:01:24.909 --> 00:01:27.329 greatness. But it's always surrounded by something 00:01:27.329 --> 00:01:30.650 complex. Or difficult. Or just plain unlucky 00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:33.609 sometimes. It's the KB story. And that's really 00:01:33.609 --> 00:01:35.269 our mission for this deep dive. We're not just 00:01:35.269 --> 00:01:37.730 looking at one box score. We want to unpack how 00:01:37.730 --> 00:01:41.030 this... You know, skinny kid from PG County became 00:01:41.030 --> 00:01:43.310 one of the most efficient nomadic and let's be 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:45.310 honest, controversial scorers in the history 00:01:45.310 --> 00:01:47.129 of the sport. And we've got a ton of source material 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:49.069 to work with. We're digging into the biographical 00:01:49.069 --> 00:01:51.209 stuff, career stats from the NBA, his college 00:01:51.209 --> 00:01:53.469 year, which was just, I mean, insane. Oh, that 00:01:53.469 --> 00:01:55.989 one year at Texas. Yeah. And his Olympic records, 00:01:56.109 --> 00:01:58.170 which are a whole other level of dominant. And 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:00.849 even his business side with 35 Ventures. We want 00:02:00.849 --> 00:02:02.689 to understand the whole picture. I think the 00:02:02.689 --> 00:02:05.489 place to start has to be just the sheer physical 00:02:05.489 --> 00:02:08.939 reality of him. The anomaly. You just look at 00:02:08.939 --> 00:02:11.520 Kevin Durant, even today, and he doesn't quite 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:13.780 make sense. No, he really doesn't. He's a legitimate 00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:16.539 seven footer. At least. Who moves like a point 00:02:16.539 --> 00:02:19.060 guard. The handle, the fluidity, the coordination. 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:22.219 It's not supposed to exist in a body of that 00:02:22.219 --> 00:02:23.900 size. Usually you get one or the other. You get 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:26.639 the size or you get the skill. He somehow got 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:29.460 both. It's a glitch in the matrix. But the why 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:31.680 of KD, the reason we're talking about him passing 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.099 willed, it isn't just that he's tall and can 00:02:34.099 --> 00:02:36.120 shoot over people. Right. It's the efficiency. 00:02:36.669 --> 00:02:38.610 That's the word. It's all about the efficiency. 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:41.009 We're going to get deep into the 50 -40 -90 club 00:02:41.009 --> 00:02:44.090 stuff later and how he kind of unbelievably improved 00:02:44.090 --> 00:02:46.990 on that. But you can't tell a KD story without, 00:02:47.069 --> 00:02:49.469 well, without the noise. The psychological journey, 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:51.870 as you put it. Right. The guy who is famously 00:02:51.870 --> 00:02:54.210 active on Twitter, the guy who battles with the 00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:57.129 media, who seems to feel every single comment 00:02:57.129 --> 00:03:00.860 and who has never. ever been afraid to pack his 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:02.860 bags and move if the basketball situation wasn't 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:05.139 perfect for him. He's not loyal to his city. 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:07.699 He's loyal to the game. So let's rewind. Let's 00:03:07.699 --> 00:03:10.500 go all the way back. Before the rings, before 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:12.759 the burner accounts, before this whole Houston 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:16.599 Rockets chapter, back to D .C. and Prince George's 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:19.240 County, Maryland. PG County. Yeah. For anyone 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:21.680 who doesn't follow grassroots basketball, you 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.680 have to understand that PG County is basically 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.740 a basketball factory. It might be the most fertile 00:03:26.740 --> 00:03:29.719 ground for producing NBA talent per capita on 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:32.560 the entire planet. It's a hotbed. Super competitive. 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:34.460 If you can make a name for yourself there, you're 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:36.449 ready for anything. Absolutely. So he's born 00:03:36.449 --> 00:03:39.729 Kevin Wayne Durant, September 29, 1988, grew 00:03:39.729 --> 00:03:42.490 up on the outskirts of D .C. And, you know, his 00:03:42.490 --> 00:03:44.349 family life was a little complicated. His father 00:03:44.349 --> 00:03:46.629 left when he was an infant. Right. They did reconcile 00:03:46.629 --> 00:03:49.250 later when Kevin was around 13. But in those 00:03:49.250 --> 00:03:52.009 really formative years, it was his mom, Wanda, 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:54.289 and his grandmother, Barbara, who raised him. 00:03:54.389 --> 00:03:57.590 And we all know Wanda, the real MVP. Yeah. That 00:03:57.590 --> 00:04:00.180 speech still gets me every time I see it. But 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:02.639 there's a detail from his early life, his early 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:04.860 basketball life, that I think explains so much 00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:07.439 about him. It's the number on his jersey, number 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.840 35. Yeah, this is the key to understanding him, 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:13.379 I think. It's the emotional core of his story. 00:04:13.539 --> 00:04:16.600 It's not just a random number. Not at all. So 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:20.120 when he's playing AAU ball for the PG Jaguars. 00:04:20.649 --> 00:04:23.290 His coach was this guy named Charles Craig. And 00:04:23.290 --> 00:04:25.850 Coach Craig wasn't just a coach. You know, he 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:28.870 was a mentor, a father figure, the guy who made 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:31.149 sure kids had a ride home, who bought them dinner. 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:34.370 He was everything. And Charles Craig was murdered 00:04:34.370 --> 00:04:37.009 when he was 35 years old. Oh, man, that's just. 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:40.339 That's heavy. It's unbelievably tragic. And it 00:04:40.339 --> 00:04:42.459 happened right as Durant was really starting 00:04:42.459 --> 00:04:44.360 to become who he was going to be. So he made 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:46.819 a promise. He decided he would wear number 35 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:49.519 to honor the age his mentor was when he died. 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:51.920 So every time he puts on that jersey. He's carrying 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.060 that legacy. He wore it in high school. He wore 00:04:54.060 --> 00:04:56.139 it at Texas. He wore it for almost his entire 00:04:56.139 --> 00:05:00.029 NBA career until recently. It's a memorial. It's 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:01.769 not about him. It's about honoring Coach Craig. 00:05:01.810 --> 00:05:03.810 It just adds this whole other layer of depth 00:05:03.810 --> 00:05:05.790 to him. It really does. It reframes everything. 00:05:05.990 --> 00:05:08.069 Now, physically, you mentioned he was always 00:05:08.069 --> 00:05:10.709 tall, right? This wasn't some late growth spurt. 00:05:10.790 --> 00:05:13.970 Oh, no. He was already six feet tall in middle 00:05:13.970 --> 00:05:18.410 school. Six feet. And then his senior year of 00:05:18.410 --> 00:05:20.610 high school, he apparently grew another five 00:05:20.610 --> 00:05:22.990 inches over the course of the season. That's 00:05:22.990 --> 00:05:25.970 insane. Which brings us to one of my favorite, 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:29.259 like, running gags of his entire career. the 00:05:29.259 --> 00:05:32.240 height listing. For years and years, Kevin Durant 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:35.100 was officially listed at 6 '9". Which was the 00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:37.519 most obvious lie in the entire league. Everyone 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:39.899 knew it. You'd see him standing next to guys 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:42.319 like DeMarcus Cousins, who are listed at 6 '11", 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:45.319 and KD is looking him right in the eye. Or even 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:47.420 looking down on him sometimes. He finally admitted 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:50.019 it in, I think it was 2016. He was like, OK, 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:52.980 yeah, I'm seven feet tall in shoes. But his reason 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:54.759 for lying was actually kind of brilliant. It 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:57.079 was strategic. Totally strategic. He said he 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.360 thought it was cool to be listed as a six foot 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.720 nine small forward because if he was listed at 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:04.160 seven foot, coaches would try to make him a power 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.220 forward. They'd stick him in the post and tell 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:08.180 him to bang against the big guy. And he knew 00:06:08.180 --> 00:06:10.569 that wasn't his game. He knew exactly who he 00:06:10.569 --> 00:06:12.310 was. He wanted to be on the perimeter, handling 00:06:12.310 --> 00:06:15.350 the ball, shooting threes. So he lied about his 00:06:15.350 --> 00:06:17.949 height to protect his own play style from being 00:06:17.949 --> 00:06:20.509 pigeonholed by coaches. It's actually incredibly 00:06:20.509 --> 00:06:23.870 savvy. So he dominates high school, becomes a 00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:26.129 McDonald's All -American, and then he heads to 00:06:26.129 --> 00:06:28.689 the University of Texas for what would be one 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:31.089 of the most incredible one and done seasons we 00:06:31.089 --> 00:06:35.089 have ever seen. The 2006 -2007 season, I mean, 00:06:35.089 --> 00:06:37.430 it's legendary. We're used to freshmen dominating 00:06:37.430 --> 00:06:40.149 now. You know, it happens. But back then, for 00:06:40.149 --> 00:06:43.310 a freshman to do what he did, it was revolutionary. 00:06:43.310 --> 00:06:46.589 The numbers are just dumb. 25 .8 points and 11 00:06:46.589 --> 00:06:49.649 .1 rebounds a game. As a teenager in the Big 00:06:49.649 --> 00:06:52.990 12 Conference, against grown men, He became the 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:55.910 first freshman ever to win the Naismith College 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:58.589 Player of the Year Award. The first one ever. 00:06:58.730 --> 00:07:00.329 Think about all the legends who went through 00:07:00.329 --> 00:07:02.310 college. And he was the first. He swept all the 00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:04.430 awards. But there's a huge what if connected 00:07:04.430 --> 00:07:06.389 to his college career. Right. The one and done 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:08.089 rule had just been put in place. Exactly. And 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:09.889 Durant has said multiple times, if that rule 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:11.529 didn't exist, he would have gone straight to 00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:13.990 the NBA from high school. No question. Like LeBron. 00:07:14.310 --> 00:07:17.319 Like Kobe. Yep. And get this, he's on record 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:19.480 saying his favorite team growing up was the Toronto 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:22.079 Raptors. He loved Vince Carter. He said he probably 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.639 would have ended up in Toronto. Wow. Kevin Durant? 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.740 A Raptor from day one. That changes everything. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.220 The entire landscape of the league for the next 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:33.819 two decades is completely different. It's a huge 00:07:33.819 --> 00:07:36.319 sliding doors moment, but instead he has that 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:39.579 one incredible year at Texas. They retire his 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:43.519 number 35 jersey almost immediately, and he enters 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:47.240 the 2007 NBA draft. Where he famously goes number 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:50.100 two. The Portland Trailblazers take Greg Oden 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:53.279 with the first pick. Oof. A tough one for Portland 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.180 fans still. Odin was a phenomenal prospect, but 00:07:56.180 --> 00:07:58.839 the injuries just, they were brutal. So Durant 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:00.639 lands with the Seattle Supersonics at number 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.300 two. A city with such a great basketball history, 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:06.120 and they get this new phenom. And he was good 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.120 right away. It wasn't a project. He wins Rookie 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:10.360 of the Year, averages over 20 points a game as 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:12.720 a teenager. The only other players to do that 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:14.399 at the time were LeBron and Carmelo Anthony. 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:16.379 That's the company he was keeping from his very 00:08:16.379 --> 00:08:19.160 first season. But that whole Seattle era, it 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:22.040 feels like a dream now. It was so short. It was 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:24.500 a blink. The team relocates to Oklahoma City. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:26.819 The Sonics are gone. The Thunder are born. And 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:28.699 this is where KD goes from being a great young 00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:32.919 player to being an unstoppable offensive force. 00:08:33.500 --> 00:08:36.820 Those early OKC years were so exciting. Him, 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:41.080 Westbrook, Harden. They were so young and so 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:43.059 good. And Durant was the leader. I mean, just 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:45.779 look at the scoring. Between 2010 and 2014, so 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:48.159 a five -year span, he wins the scoring title 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.720 four times. Four times in five years. That is 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:52.919 just, it's absurd dominance. But I really want 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:54.759 to focus on one season in particular there, the 00:08:54.759 --> 00:08:57.320 2012 -2013 season, because this is where he separates 00:08:57.320 --> 00:08:59.779 himself from just being a great scorer and becomes 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:02.159 this historically efficient player. This is the 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:04.860 year he joins the 50 -40 -90 club. Okay, so let's 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:07.460 break this down. People hear 50 -40 -90 all the 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:10.299 time. But they might not grasp just how ridiculously 00:09:10.299 --> 00:09:12.779 hard that is to do. Why is it the holy grail 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:14.480 of shooting? Right. So it means you have to shoot 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.980 at least 50 % from the field, 40 % from the three 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:18.779 -point line, and 90 % from the free -throw line 00:09:18.779 --> 00:09:21.299 for an entire season. And the reason it's so 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:22.980 hard is that those skills usually work against 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:25.529 each other, right? Exactly. A big man like a 00:09:25.529 --> 00:09:27.529 traditional center might shoot 60 percent from 00:09:27.529 --> 00:09:29.570 the field because he's just dunking all the time. 00:09:30.009 --> 00:09:31.909 But he's not shooting threes and he's probably 00:09:31.909 --> 00:09:34.009 a terrible free throw shooter. Sure. Then you 00:09:34.009 --> 00:09:36.230 have a three point specialist. He might hit the 00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:38.230 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the 00:09:38.230 --> 00:09:40.509 line. But his overall field goal percentage will 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:42.830 be lower because so many of his shots are difficult 00:09:42.830 --> 00:09:45.970 long range jumpers. He's not getting easy buckets 00:09:45.970 --> 00:09:48.669 at the rim. Oh, to do all three at once. It means 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:51.350 you've mastered. every single aspect of scoring. 00:09:51.549 --> 00:09:53.470 You can finish inside like a big, shoot from 00:09:53.470 --> 00:09:55.929 outside like a specialist, and you have the mental 00:09:55.929 --> 00:09:58.809 focus and perfect mechanics to almost never miss 00:09:58.809 --> 00:10:01.809 from the free throw line. And in 2013, Durant 00:10:01.809 --> 00:10:04.429 becomes the youngest player in NBA history to 00:10:04.429 --> 00:10:08.090 do it. It's just, it's a perfect season of scoring. 00:10:08.210 --> 00:10:10.970 And that leads directly into his MVP year, 2014, 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:15.750 averaging 32 a game. That year, we also get this 00:10:15.750 --> 00:10:18.830 really ugly moment that kind of foreshadows the 00:10:18.830 --> 00:10:20.889 complicated relationship he would have with the 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:24.269 media. Ugh, Sarah Unreliable. I still can't believe 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:26.970 that was a real headline in his local paper. 00:10:27.149 --> 00:10:29.809 The Oklahoman, yeah. It was during a playoff 00:10:29.809 --> 00:10:32.230 series against Memphis, and to be fair, he was 00:10:32.230 --> 00:10:34.769 struggling. The Grizzlies were a tough, physical 00:10:34.769 --> 00:10:37.549 team. Tony Allen, the grindfather, was just making 00:10:37.549 --> 00:10:40.309 his life miserable. But to call your city's MVP 00:10:40.309 --> 00:10:43.460 Mr. Unreliable. on the front page of the sports 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:45.820 section. It's a betrayal, right? That has to 00:10:45.820 --> 00:10:47.200 be the moment where he starts thinking, what 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:48.899 am I doing here? Do these people really have 00:10:48.899 --> 00:10:51.700 my back? He responded on the court, obviously, 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:54.379 but then you get that MVP speech. The real MVP 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:58.100 speech about his mom. So emotional, so raw, and 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:00.340 it just showed you the two sides of him, this 00:11:00.340 --> 00:11:03.120 killer on the court, but this deeply sensitive 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.879 person off of it. He heard the noise, he read 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:07.899 the headline, and it clearly hurt him. It was 00:11:07.899 --> 00:11:10.220 a crack in the foundation. But even with the 00:11:10.220 --> 00:11:12.659 MVP, they just couldn't get over the hump. They 00:11:12.659 --> 00:11:14.779 made the finals once, lost to Miami, but they 00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:18.919 never got back. Which brings us to 2016. The 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:21.220 moment that, for a lot of Thunder fans, is still 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:23.399 an open wound. The Western Conference Finals. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.360 They're playing the Golden State Warriors, the 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.299 team that just won 73 games, the best regular 00:11:28.299 --> 00:11:30.980 season record of all time. And OKC is up 3 -1 00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:32.700 in this series. They have them on the ropes. 00:11:32.899 --> 00:11:34.799 They have them dead to rights. One more win, 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:37.519 and they're in the NBA Finals. And they just... 00:11:38.090 --> 00:11:40.549 They collapsed. They lose three straight games. 00:11:41.169 --> 00:11:43.470 Durant plays well in game seven, but it's not 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:47.090 enough. And that loss changes the course of NBA 00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:49.889 history. Because what happens next is the biggest 00:11:49.889 --> 00:11:53.250 bombshell in modern free agency. Yeah. July 4th, 00:11:53.250 --> 00:11:56.529 2016. He drops an article on the Players Tribune, 00:11:56.549 --> 00:11:59.230 my next chapter, and he announces he's leaving 00:11:59.230 --> 00:12:02.909 Oklahoma City. to join the 73 -win Golden State 00:12:02.909 --> 00:12:05.529 Warriors, the team that had just eliminated him. 00:12:05.629 --> 00:12:08.070 I remember the internet just absolutely exploding. 00:12:08.190 --> 00:12:09.950 It was pure chaos. People were literally burning 00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:12.330 his jersey. The snake emoji was born. It was 00:12:12.330 --> 00:12:15.490 pure, unfiltered rage from the entire NBA world. 00:12:15.710 --> 00:12:17.549 And you can understand why. It felt like a shortcut. 00:12:17.789 --> 00:12:19.629 It felt like he was taking the easy way out, 00:12:19.669 --> 00:12:21.509 joining the superpower that was already built. 00:12:21.610 --> 00:12:23.610 But you have to look at it from his perspective, 00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:25.950 too. Right. There was another side to it, the 00:12:25.950 --> 00:12:28.509 basketball side. People like Ben Goliver made 00:12:28.509 --> 00:12:29.990 this point at the time, and I think it's aged 00:12:29.990 --> 00:12:33.129 really well. He said Durant chose basketball 00:12:33.129 --> 00:12:37.190 perfection. In OKC, the offense was clunky. It 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:39.269 was him and Westbrook taking turns. The floor 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:41.230 was cramped. He was always getting double teamed. 00:12:41.669 --> 00:12:44.789 Constantly. But in Golden State. He saw Steph 00:12:44.789 --> 00:12:47.070 Curry and Klay Thompson running around. The ball 00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:49.909 was moving. The floor was wide open. It was beautiful 00:12:49.909 --> 00:12:51.809 basketball. He didn't want to just be the guy 00:12:51.809 --> 00:12:53.809 who had to do everything himself. He wanted to 00:12:53.809 --> 00:12:56.110 play in a system that made the game easy and 00:12:56.110 --> 00:12:58.269 beautiful. And he was right. You can't argue 00:12:58.269 --> 00:13:00.669 with the results. I mean, from a pure basketball 00:13:00.669 --> 00:13:02.850 standpoint, it was the right move. It was validated 00:13:02.850 --> 00:13:05.309 immediately. They win the championship in 2017. 00:13:05.669 --> 00:13:08.590 They win again in 2018. Two championships, two 00:13:08.590 --> 00:13:11.509 finals MVPs for Durant. The basketball they played 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:14.769 was... It was breathtaking. It might be the best 00:13:14.769 --> 00:13:16.730 basketball we've ever seen. And he had that one 00:13:16.730 --> 00:13:20.169 iconic moment in the 2017 finals. Game three 00:13:20.169 --> 00:13:23.669 in Cleveland. Close game. He just calmly brings 00:13:23.669 --> 00:13:26.129 the ball up the court. And pulls up for a three 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:28.769 -pointer right over LeBron James. Yeah. In his 00:13:28.769 --> 00:13:31.929 building. Dagger. That was the moment where he 00:13:31.929 --> 00:13:33.590 basically announced to the world, I'm the best 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:36.470 player alive right now. He wasn't riding their 00:13:36.470 --> 00:13:38.990 coattails. He was the final piece that made them 00:13:38.990 --> 00:13:42.240 unbeatable. But even the greatest dynasties eventually 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:45.240 crumble. And this one started to crack in a very 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:49.919 public, very ugly way. November 2018. The infamous 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.740 on -court argument with Draymond Green. Right. 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:55.059 Draymond basically called him out about his upcoming 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:57.159 free agency. And according to reports, he said 00:13:57.159 --> 00:13:59.659 something like, we won without you. We don't 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:02.220 need you. And you can't take that back once that's 00:14:02.220 --> 00:14:04.889 out there. The trust is broken. It confirmed 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:07.049 all of Durant's insecurities about being there, 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:08.629 that he was always going to be the outsider, 00:14:08.809 --> 00:14:12.009 the hired gun, and then the ultimate price, the 00:14:12.009 --> 00:14:14.669 2019 finals against Toronto. He had been out 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:16.889 with a calf strain. The Warriors are losing the 00:14:16.889 --> 00:14:19.309 series. He feels the pressure to come back and 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:22.110 save them. He comes back for game five, and for 00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:24.129 the first quarter, he looks like the old KD. 00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:26.450 He has 11 points in 12 minutes. He's cooking. 00:14:26.610 --> 00:14:28.389 It looks like he's going to will them to a win. 00:14:28.590 --> 00:14:33.250 And then, the play. He tries to make a move on 00:14:33.250 --> 00:14:35.629 Serge Ibaka. And he just goes down, no contact. 00:14:35.690 --> 00:14:37.669 You could see it on his face immediately. He 00:14:37.669 --> 00:14:41.350 knew. A torn Achilles. The worst injury in basketball. 00:14:41.649 --> 00:14:43.710 It's the one that robs you of your athleticism. 00:14:43.730 --> 00:14:46.990 It's ended so many careers. And just like that, 00:14:47.149 --> 00:14:49.710 the Warriors' hope for a three -peat was over, 00:14:49.850 --> 00:14:53.009 and so was Durant's time in Golden State. He 00:14:53.009 --> 00:14:55.409 literally tore his body apart for them, and it 00:14:55.409 --> 00:14:57.730 was the end of the line. So he's now a free agent, 00:14:57.830 --> 00:15:01.419 facing a year of rehab. And he makes another 00:15:01.419 --> 00:15:04.159 shocking move. He heads east. This is the Brooklyn 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:06.940 experiment. He signs this massive four -year... 00:15:07.309 --> 00:15:10.649 A $164 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets, along 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:13.129 with his friend, Kyrie Irving. And everyone knows 00:15:13.129 --> 00:15:15.330 he's going to miss the entire first season. They 00:15:15.330 --> 00:15:17.210 were willing to pay him max money just to sit 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:19.049 on the bench and get healthy for a full year. 00:15:19.129 --> 00:15:20.710 That's how good he is. And when he comes back, 00:15:20.750 --> 00:15:22.370 they go all in. They trade for James Harden. 00:15:22.429 --> 00:15:24.250 So now you have Durant, Harden, and Kyrie. On 00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:26.769 paper, it's maybe the most talented offensive 00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:30.029 trio ever assembled. On paper being the key words 00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:32.549 there that just, it never clicked. It was a mess. 00:15:33.149 --> 00:15:36.309 Injuries, Kyrie's vaccine status, Harden wanting 00:15:36.309 --> 00:15:39.279 out. They almost never played together at full 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.440 strength. But we have to talk about that one 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.700 moment. The 2021 playoffs. The Milwaukee series. 00:15:45.259 --> 00:15:47.700 This is the ultimate what if of his entire career 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:49.940 for me. I agree. It's game seven of the Eastern 00:15:49.940 --> 00:15:52.899 Conference semifinals. Kyrie is hurt. James Harden 00:15:52.899 --> 00:15:54.899 is playing on a torn hamstring. He can barely 00:15:54.899 --> 00:15:56.879 move. So it's basically Kevin Durant against 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:58.879 the entire Bucs team. And he was magnificent. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.539 He plays every single second of the game. Every 00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:03.940 second of overtime, too. He drops 48 points, 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:06.019 which was a game seven record. And then we get 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:08.740 to the end of regulation. The shot. Oh, man. 00:16:08.980 --> 00:16:12.159 The shot. Nets are down by two. Durant. gets 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.139 the ball, makes a move, fades away from the corner 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:16.919 for what looks like the series -winning three 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:19.840 -pointer at the buzzer, and it goes in, swish, 00:16:19.899 --> 00:16:22.399 the building erupts, it's over. But it wasn't. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.940 His foot, his big -ass foot, as he called it 00:16:24.940 --> 00:16:27.700 later, his toe was just grazing the three -point 00:16:27.700 --> 00:16:30.620 line. By millimeters, the refs review it, they 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:32.460 change it to a two -pointer, the game is tied. 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:34.980 And they go to overtime, and KD is just completely 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:38.039 gassed. He's nothing left. Nothing. The Nets 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:40.059 lose. The Bucks go on to win the championship. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:43.559 If Durant's shoe was a size smaller or if he 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:46.000 takes that shot from an inch further back, Brooklyn 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.740 probably wins the title. And that entire era 00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:51.139 is viewed as a massive success instead of a failure. 00:16:51.220 --> 00:16:55.250 It's just. History turns on an inch. And after 00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:56.929 that heartbreak, the whole thing in Brooklyn 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:00.009 just fell apart. He asked for a trade. They finally 00:17:00.009 --> 00:17:02.870 granted in February 2023, and he's sent to the 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:04.990 Phoenix Suns. And Phoenix gave up everything 00:17:04.990 --> 00:17:08.130 for him. McCall Bridges, Cam Johnson, a whole 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:10.190 treasure chest of draft picks. They pushed all 00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.309 their chips in. Now, at this point, he's in his 00:17:12.309 --> 00:17:14.809 mid -30s, coming off an Achilles tear. You'd 00:17:14.809 --> 00:17:17.349 expect him to slow down. But statistically... 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:19.680 He did something that makes no sense. It defies 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:21.740 sports science. In that season, he split between 00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:24.880 Brooklyn and Phoenix. He had a 55 -40 -90 season. 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:27.319 Wait, hold on. We said 50 -40 -90 was the holy 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:31.039 grail. He shot 55 % from the field? 56%, actually. 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:33.920 Over 55. He's the first player in NBA history 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:36.460 to hit those benchmarks. He lost a bit of his 00:17:36.460 --> 00:17:38.440 vertical explosion, sure, but he replaced it 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.619 with just pure surgical skill. His mid -range 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:43.980 jumper became the most reliable shot in the entire 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:46.099 league. But the team's success didn't come with 00:17:46.099 --> 00:17:48.259 it. No, it didn't. They lost to the Nuggets in 00:17:48.259 --> 00:17:50.299 the 23 playoffs, who went on to win the title, 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:53.700 and then 2024 was a complete catastrophe. They 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:56.480 got swept in the first round. A sweep for a team 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:58.700 with that much talent and that high of a payroll 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:01.640 is just, it's a disaster. And then the injury 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:04.319 luck runs out again. March 2025, he suffers a 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:06.880 season -ending ankle injury, and the Suns miss 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.000 the playoffs completely. The whole Phoenix experiment 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.339 was over before it really even began. Which brings 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:15.160 us to today, the current season. 2025 -2026. 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:18.180 And Kevin Durant is now a Houston Rocket. How 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:20.180 did that even happen? The trade of the summer. 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:23.000 It was a massive seven -team deal. Seven teams. 00:18:23.099 --> 00:18:25.059 The largest trade in league history. It was a 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:27.920 complete roster shakeup across the NBA. And the 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:30.500 end result was KD landing in Houston on a big 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:34.000 contract extension. And his debut was so weirdly 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.640 on -brand for him. Oh, it was bizarre. It was 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:39.960 against his old team, OKC. The game goes to double 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:42.890 overtime. And late in the game, Durant tries 00:18:42.890 --> 00:18:44.829 to call a timeout when the Rockets don't have 00:18:44.829 --> 00:18:47.529 any left. The Chris Webber moment. Exactly. Total 00:18:47.529 --> 00:18:51.029 flashback. But somehow the refs completely missed 00:18:51.029 --> 00:18:52.930 it. They didn't call the technical foul, but 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:54.710 it didn't even matter because he fouled out on 00:18:54.710 --> 00:18:57.049 the next play and the Rockets lost anyway. Just 00:18:57.049 --> 00:18:59.809 a strange, chaotic start. But he found his rhythm. 00:19:00.449 --> 00:19:04.190 And this past month, January 2026, has been huge. 00:19:04.529 --> 00:19:07.009 The revenge tour is in full swing. It really 00:19:07.009 --> 00:19:09.609 is. On January 5th, he hits a game winner against 00:19:09.609 --> 00:19:12.490 Phoenix, his most recent team. And after the 00:19:12.490 --> 00:19:14.890 game, he basically said he felt like they made 00:19:14.890 --> 00:19:17.009 him the scapegoat for all their problems. He 00:19:17.009 --> 00:19:19.069 embraced being the villain again and he stuck 00:19:19.069 --> 00:19:20.910 the dagger in them. And then just a few days 00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:23.660 later, he passes Wilt. Which is where we started 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:25.519 this whole conversation. Right. It's just been 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.779 a history -making month for him, solidifying 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:30.440 his legacy, even as he's on, what, his sixth 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:33.299 team? Now, we can't do this whole deep dive without 00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:35.839 talking about his international career. Because 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:38.420 you can make a very, very strong case that he's 00:19:38.420 --> 00:19:40.839 the greatest men's Olympic basketball player 00:19:40.839 --> 00:19:42.819 of all time. I don't even think it's a case anymore. 00:19:43.059 --> 00:19:45.960 I think it's just a fact. He has four gold medals. 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:50.869 Four. 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024. He's the first 00:19:50.869 --> 00:19:54.089 male athlete in any team sport to win four Olympic 00:19:54.089 --> 00:19:56.470 golds. And he's not just along for the ride. 00:19:56.589 --> 00:19:59.289 He's the guy. He's always the best player on 00:19:59.289 --> 00:20:02.390 the team. In the 2024 Paris Games, he became 00:20:02.390 --> 00:20:05.289 USA's all -time leading scorer and rebounder. 00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:08.470 And think about it. So many superstars skip the 00:20:08.470 --> 00:20:11.069 Olympics to rest. Durant almost always shows 00:20:11.069 --> 00:20:13.299 up. He just loves playing basketball. It's that 00:20:13.299 --> 00:20:15.259 simple. And that passion extends off the court 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:17.359 now, too. He's become this really savvy businessman. 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:19.900 Yeah. 35 Ventures, his company with his partner, 00:20:19.980 --> 00:20:22.059 Rich Kleiman. They're not just, you know, endorsing 00:20:22.059 --> 00:20:24.039 products. They're investing. They have a stake 00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:27.259 in an MLS team, a pickleball team. Their media 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:29.920 platform, Boardroom, is a real force in sports 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:32.079 business media. He's also been a pretty vocal 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:34.660 advocate, too. For sure. Especially with cannabis. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.700 He partnered with Weedmaps to help destigmatize 00:20:37.700 --> 00:20:41.000 marijuana use for athletes, for recovery. He's 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:42.960 been really open about it, which is a big deal. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.559 And he's an Oscar winner. We have to mention 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.819 that. It's an insane fun fact. He was an executive 00:20:47.819 --> 00:20:50.900 producer on a short film called Two Distant Strangers 00:20:50.900 --> 00:20:54.579 that won an Academy Award. So he has more Oscars 00:20:54.579 --> 00:20:56.740 than Leonardo DiCaprio did for a very long time. 00:20:56.900 --> 00:20:59.000 Plus, he's a credentialed photographer who shot 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:01.099 a Super Bowl from the sidelines. Yeah. The guy 00:21:01.099 --> 00:21:04.519 is just, he's endlessly interesting. But you 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:06.299 can't talk about his off -court persona without 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:08.920 talking about Twitter. Ah, yes. The bird app 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:13.259 X. Whatever it is. He is famously very online. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:16.359 He's not just online. He's in the trenches. Most 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:19.319 superstars have a PR team post great team win 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:22.079 tonight. KD is in the replies at 2 in the morning 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:24.019 arguing with a random account with 12 followers 00:21:24.019 --> 00:21:26.960 about a game from 2014. It's incredible. He's 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:28.819 admitted to having burner accounts to defend 00:21:28.819 --> 00:21:30.880 himself. But you know what? I kind of respect 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.319 it now. He said that when he was in OKC, he felt 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:35.440 phony, like he was always trying to be the perfect 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:39.099 corporate superstar. Now he's just him. If he 00:21:39.099 --> 00:21:41.559 thinks your opinion is dumb, he's going to tell 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:43.920 you. It's authentic, if nothing else. It makes 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.480 him feel more human than almost any other athlete 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.660 at that level. So let's try to wrap this all 00:21:49.660 --> 00:21:52.599 up. We've traced the path from the Slim Reaper 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:55.460 in Seattle to the veteran sniper in Houston. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:58.799 It's a journey defined by movement, by change. 00:21:59.059 --> 00:22:01.480 He's been a hero. He's been a villain, sometimes 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:05.059 in the same city. He's polarized absolutely everyone. 00:22:05.339 --> 00:22:07.740 But the one constant, the one thing that has 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:10.740 never, ever wavered is the skill. I think this 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:13.420 one stat just sums him up perfectly. He and LeBron 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:16.079 James are the only two players in history to 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.940 have scored 40 points against all 30 NBA teams. 00:22:19.099 --> 00:22:21.759 He has burned every single franchise to the ground 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.980 at some point. And he's doing it more efficiently 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:25.799 as he gets older, which is the part that still 00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:28.799 breaks my brain. That 55 -40 -90 season should 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.660 not be possible for a guy at his age post -Achilles 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:33.480 tear. So here's the final question I want to 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:36.720 leave everyone with. It's 2026. He just passed 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:40.019 Wilt. He's seventh all -time in scoring. Given 00:22:40.019 --> 00:22:41.960 that his efficiency is somehow still improving, 00:22:42.380 --> 00:22:45.720 does Kevin Durant have a realistic shot at cracking 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:49.460 the top three all -time scorers list? Or will 00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:51.700 the constant moving, the wandering nature of 00:22:51.700 --> 00:22:54.779 his career, ultimately overshadow the pure statistical 00:22:54.779 --> 00:22:57.240 dominance? If he can stay healthy for two or 00:22:57.240 --> 00:22:59.519 three more years in Houston, playing in a system 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.900 that needs his scoring, I would not bet against 00:23:01.900 --> 00:23:03.799 him. He just loves putting the ball in the basket 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:06.480 way too much. I wouldn't either. All right, that's 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:08.000 it for this deep dive. Thanks for joining us. 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:08.579 Take care, everyone.