Kevin Durant opens up about ego, aging, and the end of an NBA career — and he keeps it brutally real.
KD says if he ever gets thrown into a trade as a filler piece, or if he’s not in the rotation anymore, that’s when he knows it’s time to hang it up.
He’s not in the league to collect checks or ride the bench — he wants to play, compete, and work on his craft every day. 💯
KD also shares what keeps him motivated and what will finally tell him it’s time to walk away from basketball.
Do you think KD will retire while still elite, or will he play until the wheels fall off? 👀
#kevindurant #nba
LINK – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLT80dYSNIM (The Pivot Podcast)
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Do you think that if you ever on that list, it’s time to call it a a day? Oh, sure. If I’m just get thrown in a trade on a random Thursday, like, yeah, man. I’m sending me to Charlotte, you know, or sending me to Milwaukee or a place that just like in the middle of Nah. Nah. Nothing against them cities, but I’m just saying like I wouldn’t envision myself being traded to, you know, any of these cities, you know, and then just to be traded in the middle of Yeah. It would be time for me to go in. What is that though? Would that be a signal that your game is falling off or is that your ego? Like we played 13 years, right? And it was hard for us to kind of get up and say, “Man, I can’t do it on that level. I can’t still do it on that level.” So, you fight with that. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? Like for you, if you said, “Nah, I ain’t going for that.” Like, what would that version be? If I’m just not playing at all, if I’m not in the rotation at all, it’s just like I’m not here to just collect the check. I’m not here to like what am I here to do then? Like if I’m not a part of the rotation, I’m not saying I need to be taking all the shots or starting, but if I’m not playing a important role where I can get a little lather every night, like I want to get a little bump in every night, you know? So if I’m not doing that, then I might as well go just play pickup with the homies, you know? I want to play. KD, you come off the bench. If I Yes. If I’m on a team where we nice and I realize that I am not capable of starting no more, I don’t see it happening. I’m just saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I I want to be a part of a good team. So, it’s just like Yeah. If that presents itself one day, then and I got to know that all right, it’s your time to come off the bench. Yeah. I provide I could feel like I could put step into that role, too. How long do you want to want to do it though, Katie? Because basketball, I think basketball’s different from football, right? Like I didn’t retire from football because I didn’t want to play in the games anymore. I didn’t want to do the rest of the work. Yeah. It’s a lot. You know what I’m Like I didn’t want offseason. I didn’t want treatment all week. I didn’t want to not be able to walk on Saturday, had to get a shot on Sunday morning so I could go play and then go lose, right? It just it wasn’t the reward was no longer there for me. And what you do, you can do it so purely and I don’t want to minimize like your work. It feels easy sometimes, right? Like I’m watching the game. I’m like they ain’t going to block it. He just going to miss it if like if they expect it not to go in like they ain’t going to block it. He going to get it up, right? He’s going to get the shot. What will it it it be for you that says and not like whether I’m getting the minutes or not. Like what will it be for you to say, “Okay, I can no longer physically do this.” I mean, I don’t know. I don’t I don’t I don’t even know how that feels. I I mean, I guess I’ll I guess I just feel that. I mean, cuz at this point, I I got the energy to get up and practice and work on my game. I enjoy that part of my life right now. Like, that’s a that’s that’s what’s keeping me going is that that extra work. Not the games, but, you know, working on my craft. That’s the fun part of it. And I guess when I guess when that’s not fun no more, you know, cuz that’s my like I said, I could do that anywhere, anytime, and I can feel comfortable living in that routine, you know, getting up, going to the gym, coming home, like tailoring my days around it. I enjoy that. When it’s not a When that’s not fun no more, it’s probably when I’ll step
