Kevin Durant may seem like a prickly person that doesn’t spend time building relationships in the league after his current situation with the Brooklyn Nets. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was a friendship that allowed the Brooklyn Nets to sign both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in 2019.
Relationships are incredibly important in the NBA. One of the best ways for top-tier talent in the league to build relationships with each other is to play in the Olympics, as the best American players in the league are selected for the same. The 2012 Olympics US Basketball team was a squad that could rival some of the greatest of all time.
That was the last Olympic squad to feature Kobe Bryant and had legends like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and a rookie Anthony Davis, among others. KD had a strong relationship with Bryant and became emotional about Kobe after finding a team picture from the 2012 Olympics on Twitter.
Bean tryna get his stance right is too funny. I Miss my dog everyday https://t.co/0YCJx5tSBY
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) July 25, 2022
Kobe Bryant was someone who took his dedication to the game to a whole new level and has given the blueprint to many young talents looking to make a name in the league. Players like KD have followed Kobe’s philosophy of constantly working on their game to be better each year.
Durant and Bryant were Western Conference Rivals towards the end of Bryant’s Lakers’ championship window. They faced each other in 2010 when the Lakers beat KD’s OKC Thunder en route to the NBA title. They had a rematch in 2012, but this time it was KD’s team that won the series, though he couldn’t win the title.
Bryant is incredibly important to the world of basketball and even players like KD can’t move on from the legends’ contributions to the game of basketball. The fact that they could form personal relationships with him is a privilege for them and one that they didn’t take for granted.
