The Golden State Warriors wrapped up their second title in three seasons last June behind the Finals MVP performance of Kevin Durant. He scored 39 points in that Game 5 clincher and hit one of the biggest shots in the series as well: a clutch 3-pointer over longtime rival LeBron James in Game 3 that clinched an epic comeback in that game.
That shot, coupled with the Warriors’ series win, has Durant feeling like he’s on level ground on the court with James now. In a wide-ranging GQ interview with Zach Baron, Durant details several topics — from his summer trip to India and the NBA Academy, to his offseason Twitter incidents to adjusting to life with the Warriors.
Simply put, it’s a must-read interview that is chock full of insight into one of the NBA’s brightest — and, at times, misunderstood — stars. When it comes to the Warriors, his free agency, James’ impact on him and more, Durant is clear how he views his basketbal life:
LeBron, he said, was the one who “gave me the courage to do that”—first to change teams, and then to sign the deals that he’s signed since. “Now, I could have did a better job studying how he approached everything after that. But I did it my way. And the next guy is gonna look at me as an example. We’re all working together now.” He said that ever since he came into the league, he’d been mindful of James’s way of doing things. He follows it still, in some respects, he said, though he was pleased to have gained some ground on the court. “He’s four years older than me, so he’s still the big homie. But I’m on the same level as a basketball player. Off the court, I can learn a thing from you. But as a basketball player, I feel like it’s 1A, 1B. And that’s an accomplishment for me.
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“It’s a transition to a different life,” he said about California. “Every day I wake up, I’m still getting used to living in the Bay Area. And I’m still getting used to playing with new teammates and putting on a new jersey. It’s gonna take me some time. You settle down somewhere for so long, it’s just like, no matter if you just moved, you still gonna feel that adjustment.” But he also enjoyed living where he was living, around Silicon Valley guys and CEOs. “A lot of those people, they just think a little different,” he told me. “They simplify their lives, and they have some clarity. And when you have those two things, you kind of see things for what they are. Some stuff is not as big as you think it is. You’re not as important, or the situation may not be as important, as you think it is. Brian Grazer taught me that.”
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Over the summer, he’d signed a second deal with the Warriors, for less money than he could’ve asked for, and the Warriors had in turn used the money he saved them to re-sign several of Durant’s teammates. He was enjoying being just a member of a team, rather than the face of it. “Steph Curry is the face of the franchise, and that helps me out, because I don’t have to,” he said. “I don’t want to have to be the leader. I’m not a leader. I’m bad at saying, ‘Stand behind me and follow me.’ No. I’m one of those guys that’s just like, ‘Let’s do this [expletive] together. Let’s just work everybody together. I don’t mind being on the front line with you, but let’s come and do it together.’ That’s my way of leadership. I’m leading by example.”
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With the Warriors, Durant had decided to follow LeBron James’s example of signing one-year deals—two years, technically, but with a player option for the second year—that effectively prevent him from being traded at all. Together, the two men seem to be modeling a future of the league in which players—stars, anyway—control their own destinies. “We always had the power, as players,” Durant told me. “We’re just realizing it now. It’s like when you wake up—we woke now. And a lot of people didn’t want us to be woke. They wanted us to stay in this trance, that we felt like we had to live our life based on what somebody else does. They can move us when they want to, they can sign us when they want to.… We got control of that now.”
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