Kevin Durant: 'I never considered playing for the Knicks'
Knicks fans were convinced that Kevin Durant was going to land in the World's Most Famous Arena this offseason. Nets fans patiently waited. In fact, one Nets beat writer--yes yours truly--predicted both Kyrie Irving and Durant would end up in Brooklyn. While Brooklynites and New Jerseyeans couldn't be happier with the superstar duo landing in the borough, according to Durant, the Knicks weren't even in the conversation.
“That’s the media hyping that (crap) up. I never came out and said anything about me wanting to play for the Knicks, ever. Ever,” Durant said in an interview on Showtime’s “All the Smoke.” “Then when we came here last year, they had the billboards up and somebody asked me about it, and I wasn’t too excited about it, because I didn’t like it.
The Knicks have been a franchised starved of winning with an overly sensitive owner that doesn't hesitate to kick former team greats like Charles Oakley out of the building or fans simply imploring him to the sell the team. While Knicks fans had lofty expectations that Durant would play with them, the former Warriors forward had other plans in mind.
“It wasn’t like I had something against the Knicks; I just didn’t like all that attention when I was playing for another team. I never really was big on that New York thing. It was just everybody else, the media, the fans. The Knick fans, they wanted a superstar to come play for them finally. I never promised anybody I was playing for the Knicks.”
In the end, Brooklyn became the choice for Durant, and it doesn't look as though he's second-guessing that decision.
“Not really. I looked at other places; the Clippers, I took a peek at the Knicks just to do my due diligence; but I really wanted to play for the black and white,” said Durant. “I liked the brand. Brooklyn was an up-and-coming city that needed some new flair, a new basketball injection.
