Kevin Durant says he was obsessed with winning the NBA Championship last season. His obsession cost him an alarming 12 technical fouls – the same amount from his previous five seasons combined. Although he had one of his best seasons, something seemed different about Kevin Durant. He became more confrontational and outspoken, two traits we had never seen from him before.
“Last year, I was obsessed with it,” Durant said of winning a title. “Like, I wasn’t going to sleep because I wanted to win so bad. I was screaming at my teammates, at the refs, at the coaches. I got mad because I thought ‘if we have a bad game here, we’re not going to win a championship.’”
Kevin Durant says he is not so obsessed with winning the title this season.
“So I’m not going to let that overtake my mind,” said Durant of his championship chase. “I mean, of course I want to win it, but I’m not obsessed with it. I’m going to put in the work to help my team, but I’m not going to be obsessed with it because that’s when I compromise myself, and most of the time it doesn’t work out.”
“Maybe it’s not (a bad thing),” Durant said of the obsession. “But for me, it was just, like, I wasn’t enjoying it no more. It was more like a job more than just going out there having fun playing the game. I never want to lose the love. Once you lose love of something and you make it into a job then …”
Seems like losing in the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat really put Kevin Durant in a bad place. He is not the type of player to get 12 technical fouls in a season. I understand having the thirst for winning but being obsessed proved to be more counterproductive for him and the OKC Thunder. Good to see Kevin Durant back in a more positive place. With the return of Westbrook, the Thunder have a great chance to take the West.