“KEEP DREAMING, KEEP PLAYING,” is the advice Kevin Durant has for the young basketball players in India. ARJIT DABAS in conversation with the NBA star who plays for Golden State Warriors.
Kevin Durant has the distinction of making eight consecutive All-Star appearances. He has also been a part of the two gold medal winning U.S. Olympic basketball teams. Named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2008, Durant went on to become the MVP in 2014.
After a move to the Golden State Warriors — much to the dismay of the fans of his former team Oklahoma City Thunder — Durant became the second-highest paid player in the NBA League behind LeBron James, earning a whopping $26.5m a year.
The 28-year-old star is all set to make a trip to India in the off season. While in India, Durant will visit the Elite Academy to be set up by the NBA in Delhi-NCR to train 24 budding players who have been chosen from all over the country. On the sidelines of the NBA All Star weekend, Durant spoke to a select Indian media about his visit, and also the development of the game in the country.
Excerpts:
Question: As we all know, height is an advantage in basketball and India doesn’t fare too well on that front. So what advice would you like to give to the young Indian basketball players about competing at the highest level?
Answer: You have great examples here, in the All-Star Weekend; you look at Stephen Curry, Isaiah Thomas, Kemba Walker, they were not the biggest, fastest, strongest, but they still are great players. These guys are great for our game and are definitely giving a lot of players around the world the hope to play in our league. And they are great ambassadors of the game as well. So work on your skill, work on your fundamentals, enjoy the game and anything can happen.
India has a couple of guys trying to get into the D-League team. In terms of talent, how is the transition from the D-League to the NBA? How advantageous is it to play in the D-League?
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