Even before they teamed up in Brooklyn, Kevin Durant had very good words for Kyrie Irving, praising the talented point guard for his game, comparing him to the greatest ballers in the history of the game. Back in 2017, when they faced each other in the NBA Finals, Durant had high praise for Kyrie, even comparing him with Allen Iverson.
The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games that year, but Kyrie was a total nightmare for the Dubs, going off for 29.4 ppg in the series. During an interview on The Bill Simmons podcast, KD talked about Kyrie and how talented he was, putting him at the same level as Allen Iverson (35:03 mark).
“I was telling some of my friends after Game 2, I was like, Kyrie, he just makes you happy when you watch him play. You just smile when you watch him play because for somebody to be that skilled, you know he had to work tirelessly at it. The stuff he has in his package is next-level stuff that you can try to teach your kids to do it, but you’ll never be able to do it.
“I’ve never seen somebody block his layup, and he’s 6-2. I’ve never seen one person pin his layup on the glass—not one—because the spin he got on it and he don’t have to look at it. I just got so much respect for him because I know how much work he put in to be that good. I’ve never seen nobody like him.” […]
(At 37:07) “Kyrie is better than AI to me. I’m going from like skill for skill. His handle is better. We might have to cut that out—I don’t want no problems with AI. Y’all might have to cut that one. I don’t want that to get out. I’m just saying I feel like Kyrie got more skill.”
Durant and Irving are ready to finally share touches on the Brooklyn Nets this next season. The two stars will team up on a team with a lot of expectations entering the new season, where a lot of people expect them to fail. These two going to Brooklyn to join the Nets surprised a lot of people, but they later clarified they were friends for a long time. KD’s admiration for Irving dates from a long time ago and now they will be teammates in one of the favorite teams to win it all next season.
