Kevin Durant Says He Doesn’t Play Basketball For Championships

Kevin Durant is undoubtedly one of the most popular basketball players in the world right now. The Brooklyn Nets star had previously won two championships with the Golden State Warriors and despite the fact that he won Finals MVP in both of those seasons, fans still discuss the legitimacy of his rings. 

While speaking to Rachel Nichols of ESPN, Kevin Durant said something that certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. Durant stated that championships no longer motivate him and he simply wants to focus on becoming the best player possible.

Durant added that he simply wants to play the game and that winning championships isn’t the be all end all for him.

“I wasn’t expecting to be a happy human being from a title,” Durant explained. “I was just expecting like, you know, the ending of a movie — once you worked so hard and everybody tells you like, ‘Yo, this is what you need to be working for, is this gold ball and these rings.’ And I’m just like, ‘Alright, cool, let me lock in on that.’ And I locked in on wanting to achieve that, but I also realized it’s a lot of stuff that factors in it, that’s out of my control.

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“And once I won a championship [with Golden State], I realized that like my view on this game is really about development. Like, how good can I be? It’s not about, you know, let’s go get this championship. I appreciate that stuff and I want to win to experience that stuff, but it’s not the end all, be all of why I play the game.”

Durant added that he started thinking like this after his Achilles injury back in 2019. Regardless, as he is currently playing for the Brooklyn Nets, it is likely he might win another ring in the process, which Durant might not care about as much.