With someone in a position like Taurean Prince — who saw his name pop up in the trade rumor mill a bit this offseason — you might not expect him to go out of his way to praise his star teammates for their leadership the first chance he got with the media at training camp.
But not only did Prince say Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are underrated leaders, he detailed why.
“They’re both vocal. They both lead by example. They both will come up to you and talk to you, tell you what you did wrong, “Prince said on a Zoom call Thursday. “But also, [the] thing that surprised not only myself but a lot of guys is that they receive criticism from their teammates very well.
“So, if we feel like we want to correct them or need to talk to them about a situation where they could have been there for us, well then it’s the same thing, vice-versa. You don’t feel that pressure not to be able to tell your star. You know, like, ‘call a screen next time’ or whatever the situation may be.”
So why are Durant and Irving constantly questioned as leaders?
“I think it’s just ’cause they’re not around them daily. So I really can’t even blame them,” Prince said. “People having that narrative to keep up, so that is really a personal thing for them. But, it’s kinda like the situation with Kyrie. You see his highlights so much when you were not on his team. When he’s in front of you doing it every single day it makes that much more wowed by everything. So, I think it’s [a] situation where people gotta be around him to sit it for themselves.”
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