Kevin Durant was well aware that he was going to receive a ton of backlash upon signing with the stacked 73-win Golden State Warriors, who eliminated his Oklahoma City Thunder from the NBA playoffs by overcoming a 3-1 series deficit.
"Once I made the decision, I knew I had to take it on the chin," the four-time scoring champion said during an appearance on "Any Given Wednesday" with Bill Simmons. "I had to keep rolling with the punches. It upset me. It upset me coming from, you know, people I spent time with. Obviously they were upset."
As an unrestricted free agent, Durant took his destiny into his own hands by joining an established roster with perhaps the greatest chance of hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy, something he was unable to do with OKC. It's a move many people in his position probably would have done, which is why it baffles him when cynics and haters question his character simply because he changed his address.
"When they called me weak, I think I'm the total opposite," Durant added. "There's plenty of times I could've quit in this lifestyle that I'm in. There's plenty of times when I lost I could've just said that's it for me and let me move on. There's plenty of times where my neighborhood could've kept me down. But I just kept going. So how am I weak when I'm at the top, elite level of my profession and just chose to play for a different team? A lot of people try to tear you down when you make them uncomfortable or make a decision that makes them uncomfortable. Or makes them upset."
It would be easy for someone like Durant to take everyone's thoughts of him to heart, since he's probably bombarded with them on a daily basis. Thankfully, he's come to the realization that a majority of those folks only care about him as a basketball player, and don't take into consideration what he desires.
"No one cares about what I want as a person," he said. "It was all about what I do on the basketball court. No one cares if I like fishing on Tuesdays or like taking pictures on the street. No one cares as long as I can shoot that ball into the hoop. Why should I care what they think if they don't care about me as a whole?"
The seven-time All-Star's contract will pay him over $54 million the next two seasons, with a player option in 2017-18.
- with h/t to Bay Area News Group's Anthony Slater
