Kevin Durant Looking to Earn Respect of Suns Fans

PHOENIX - Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant is arguably one of the best players in NBA.

That's an opinion Durant shared himself when speaking at his introductory press conference at the Footprint Center, joined alongside Mat Ishbia and James Jones.

"I know it's always pressure because I'm one of the best players to ever play the game, so every time I step on the floor, people are going to expect you to do great things and the team I'm on to do great things. I enjoy getting better as a player every day. I enjoy just waking up and getting to do this," said Durant when asked about championship expectations.

Such is life for one of the greatest scorers to touch a basketball. Durant's accolades stretch a mile long, but his rap sheet won't mean anything if he can't live up to the price tag of being exchanged for four future first-round picks and two of the Valley's most coveted athletes in Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges.

Yet the acquisition of Durant has generated a new buzz around Phoenix, and the new superstar addition knows that.

"I could feel the excitement coming off the plane," said Durant. "Everywhere I've gone so far, fans have given me a warm welcome. But I still feel like I got to prove myself every day. They set a high standard for the players here. I can tell. I can tell about how dedicated they are to the team. So there's a high standard set every night for each player and I want to reach that every day.

"So I felt like I still got to prove myself. I want to put good stuff on film, every day. That's the only thing I'm concerned with at this point in my life is putting good stuff on the film every night. So I'm looking forward to doing that for the Suns fans and hopefully they accept me after that."