Kevin Durant may be the NBA player whose reputation among his peers differ the most from how fans perceive him. Durant is beloved in the NBA community, with his game being such a delight to watch from the moment he stepped foot in the league back in 2007. As for Memphis Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr., part of his formative years as an NBA fan was watching Durant tear up the nets in the association, having done so for 11 years before he entered the league as the fourth overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft.
In fact, the Grizzlies big man and former Defensive Player of the Year admitted how highly he regards Durant and that the Phoenix Suns star is his favorite player and has been for quite some time.
“KD’s been doing this for a long time. He was my favorite player growing up,” Jackson said in an appearance on the Old Man & The Three Podcast. “I saw KD go 13-14, all pull-ups. In Memphis. I wasn’t playing. They were all pull-ups, that rim stuff is just boring for him. He’s just trying to have fun.”
The game Jaren Jackson Jr. is talking about appears to the Grizzlies’ March 27, 2019 matchup against Kevin Durant’s old team, the Golden State Warriors. Jackson was not active during that night, and Durant proceeded to torch the Grizzlies by making his first 11 shots. Although, contrary to Jackson’s recollection, they were not all pull-up jumpshots.
According to ESPN’s play-by-play, Durant made three dunks and one layup. Moreover, Durant did not miss his first shot — he missed his penultimate shot attempt, an 11-foot pull-up two. He also finished the game 12-13 from the floor, not 13-14 like the Grizzlies big man said.
Nonetheless, that game was over five years ago, and no one should fault Jackson for not having a completely accurate recollection of the game. The main takeaway is that Durant is a stone-cold killer who makes a living in the midrange. The current Suns star might be the best, purest three-level scorer the game has ever seen, and year-in, year-out, he manages to impress his peers — and deservedly so.
Why is Kevin Durant beloved by Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr., NBA colleagues
From 2007 to 2016, Kevin Durant was so beloved among fans and peers alike. Durant was the star of a small-market team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they defied their budget constraints by being one of the most consistent contending teams in the league for the majority of the early 2010s. However, fans’ perception of Durant changed when he joined forces with the Warriors.
The decision to join the Warriors, however, clearly hasn’t changed how his contemporaries view him. Durant makes the game of basketball look so effortless and his love for the game is almost unparalleled that players like Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. revere him as basketball royalty.
Durant has received plenty of flowers, so to speak, from his colleagues due to how he approaches the game and how he has managed to become comfortable in who he is once more. The Suns star’s legacy is also helped by the fact that he has delivered time and time again for Team USA, winning his fourth gold medal in Paris.
There may never be a greater encyclopedic definition of “true hooper” than Kevin Durant. And with him approaching the wrong side of 30, fans better appreciate him as much as they can.
