Kevin Durant was arguably the best player in the world in 2019 before going down with an Achilles injury during the NBA Finals. He missed the entirety of the following season just for people to forget how good he was prior to going down. On the Boardroom’s recent episode for Out of the Office, Durant expressed that he was actually shocked on how most people were reacting to his stellar play in his comeback season:
“I’m getting so many congratulations now — I didn’t do anything. We lost,” said the Nets forward. “I knew I could play, I knew I was nice. I’ve scored 48 before. I had big games before. I made big shots before. So it didn’t feel like anything special to me because we lost.”
Can you blame him for feeling this way? The 32-year-old has always been a natural competitor. He was so caught up in winning a championship this year that he didn’t even acknowledge any struggles or setbacks from that Achilles injury all season. Instead he was only worried about taking his game to the next level and that’s exactly what he did.
Durant capped off a magnificent regular season averaging 26.9 PPG, 7.1 RPG and 5.6 APG on 54 percent shooting from the field. This field goal percentage matched his career-high in 2017. To put the icing on the cake, he also set his best shooting percentage from downtown at 45 percent. What a monster. Just when you thought KD was done, he topped himself in the postseason too. In the playoffs, the Nets star averaged 34.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 4.4 APG and 1.6 BPG on 51 percent shooting from the field.
It’s safe to say that Durant has unlocked a new level in his game. It’s even safer to say that he knows he may have to put up better numbers next season to bring the Brooklyn Nets their first championship.
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