Durant channels LeBron in dismissing haters who 'still had to live their life'

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant understands that the hate he receives is only done to satiate people's need for entertainment.

Durant was asked about his unfriendly return to Oklahoma City for the first time as an opposing player this season, to which he reeled off an answer strangely reminiscent of an infamous speech once given by LeBron James.

"That was a two-hour time slot in those people’s lives where they got some entertainment for the day. And they were going to go home and get up the next day and go to work. It’s all it was," Durant explained to Michael Lee of The Vertical.

"I didn’t take it personal. I don’t hate anybody that called me any name there. It’s entertainment. That’s what they look at it as. It’s not life or death. I didn’t walk into their homes and do anything to them personally. I’m sure most people, the same thing they did on July 3, they did the same thing on July 4, July 5 and leading up to that game."

"Their lives didn’t change based on what I did. That two-and-a-half hour time slot where they watched the game and called me names, they forgot all about it when they went home at night and still had to live their life, just like I had to. I have no hard feelings. It was all fun and games for me, too."

Contrast that to what James told reporters after all the hate he received in the year leading up to his loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.

"All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. So they can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they got to get back to the real world at some point."

Given that Durant essentially followed in the footsteps of James, as a superstar that faced criticism after changing teams to chase their first title, it only makes sense that their thoughts on the matter would be similar.