If Kevin Durant’s NBA career was compared to human development, then his career is in the angsty, rebellious and troubled teenage stage of life. Yes, this is a normal stage that many people go through in their teenage years, but Kevin Durant is a 29-year-old man coming off the most successful year in his life and he’s acting like a petulant child.
Kevin Durant was a fan favorite early in his career. He’s still widely popular but has tarnished the image that he built for himself before going to Golden State. In 2014, when he won the MVP, he solidified himself as one of the best players in the world and made himself a loveable icon for fans with an emotional acceptance speech where he gave thanks to his mom and said: “you da real MVP.”
Everyone liked Kevin Durant back then. How could you not like one of the most skilled and entertaining players in the world? A man who humbled himself to tears when he won his MVP award because of the love he had for his mom. How could you not like this NBA superstar who described himself as a “high school kid” that enjoys playing video games and was known as the “nicest guy in the NBA?” He partnered with KIND snacks and had the slogan, “Being kind is not a sign of weakness.”
That Kevin Durant has been MIA ever since he signed with the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
His decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with Golden State caused him to lose a large chunk of his fanbase, for obvious reasons. That’s not the issue here, though.
The issue is his behavior ever since winning the NBA Finals with Golden State. It’s been strange and nothing like the brand he had built up earlier in his career.
During the offseason following the Warriors' championship win, Durant was extremely active on Twitter. He often replied to random people that commented issues they had with Durant. This is nothing new for NBA players—they engage with random people on social media all the time. However, with Kevin Durant, it escalated further than it should have for an NBA legend.
Durant escalated these conversations on Twitter where it gave off an impression where he was attacking anybody who didn’t like his decision to leave the Thunder. He got into arguments and even insulted people who mentioned him negatively.
Social media became even more of an issue for Durant when he replied to someone from his account in the third person. Not only was this strange because it was in the third person, but also because of the heavy criticism of the Thunder, something he had never done before.
This led to the theory that Kevin Durant had created a fake account on Twitter where he could defend himself anonymously as what appeared to be just one out of the many followers of Kevin Durant. He later admitted this theory was true and said he was losing sleep because of how he had affected his previous organization in a wrong way.
This out of character behavior has continued this year. On Dec. 4, 2017, Durant was ejected from an NBA game for getting into a shouting match with Demarcus Cousins. Cousins is one of the “tough guys” in the league, so this wasn’t anything new for him, but Durant had escalated tensions on the court and seemed to be goading Cousins into a fight.
This ejection was Durant’s third ejection this NBA season (and in 18 days) after he had only been ejected twice in his career prior to this season. He leads the league in ejections this season in not just ejections by players, but by teams as well.
This new Kevin Durant is nowhere near the Kevin Durant that fans fell in love with. Although they do have one thing in common, and that’s acting like a “high school kid.”
Kevin Durant is a 29-year-old man. Yes, that’s still young, but he’s easily in the “grown-up” stage of life. A 29-year-old should not be engaging in petty Twitter fights, especially when he’s a global icon and everything he does is going to be caught by the media.
The explanation for Durant acting like this may be like many other rebellious and angsty high school kids, he feels like he has something to prove. He’s not happy with accomplishing his goal of winning an NBA championship (the only reason why he signed with the Warriors, to begin with) and outdueling LeBron James in the Finals, which makes a strong argument that he has taken over the spot as the best player in the world. He’s not happy with the fame and riches that come with being an NBA superstar, and he's still not happy with being locked into the Hall of Fame.
It’s simple—Kevin Durant is hurt that he lost the status as “nicest guy in the league.” Ever since he left the Thunder, he has been criticized and hated by fans, and it’s gotten in his head. He’s confused because he wants to be the nice guy but the world won’t let him. He hates being called soft for joining the team that had beat him and was already among the favorites to win the championship. He wants to prove that he’s not soft and there’s only one way he can do it in his current situation. Like any other high school kid, Durant is now rebelling against his previous persona and attempting to embrace the villain status he’s been given.
It’s just not him, though. He’s not good at it and it comes off forced and strange. Kevin Durant is not Draymond Green or Demarcus Cousins. He doesn’t need to act like a tough guy to get the competitive edge because he’s already the most skilled player on the court. All he’s done is hurt is own brand. An alternative for him is to leave the Warriors and prove he can win a Championship without a loaded team, but as we saw with the Thunder, maybe that’s just too much to ask for from him.
