Kevin Durant: I Raise The Level Of My Teammates

Good players play well. Great players make others play well, and that’s exactly what Kevin Durant is doing for the Nets.

Kevin Durant dropped 53 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in Sunday’s 110 – 107 win over the Knicks. He is so good individually that he now considers how he affects his teammates as well as the opponents. 

The Nets are now 35-33 and despite their roster issues this season, still have their eyes on the playoffs.

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“You feel kind of at ease knowing that you can affect so many different plays and different areas of the game with my skill set,” Kevin Durant said. 

“I can affect my teammates and how they approach the game with my skill set about the big picture and seeing — I know I work on my game and I got to this point as an individual player, but I’m at a point in my career it’s like, ‘All right, how can I impact everybody out here? How can I make the other coaches think about their game plan?’

“So I feel like I up the level of everybody out on the floor, and that’s a good feeling to have.”

One teammate he would love to up the level of more often is Kyrie Irving, who still can’t play at Barclays Center despite being allowed in the venue as a spectator. 

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“It’s ridiculous,” Durant said. “I don’t understand it at all. There’s a few people in our arena that’s unvaxxed, right? They lifted all of that in our arena, right? So I don’t get it … I don’t get it. It just feels like at this point now, somebody’s trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority. But everybody out here is looking for attention and that’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now, is some attention. But he’ll figure it out soon. He better.”