Kevin Durant Says He's Back to Feeling 100 Percent
Kevin Durant is coming off a 2014-15 season in which he played a career-low 27 games thanks to his third foot surgery in one year.
Speaking to ESPN at USA Basketball mini-camp Tuesday, KD said he "can go 100 percent," but hasn't played any five-on-five games as a precautionary measure due to his ongoing recovery from the late-March foot surgery.
"I've got to play against the guys to really see, but I feel like I'm back to myself," Durant said after the first day of training at this USA Basketball mini-camp. "I haven't played since February, so of course, I'm human, I'd go through some rust. But I think after two trips down I'd be all right."
He admits, though, that it has been a long road just to get back to this point.
"I had my days where I'm like, 'Man, this isn't getting any better, I'm sick of working out, I've been working out for a year, I'm ready to play.' It was kind of like cabin fever almost," Durant said of the arduous recovery process. "I played a lot of (video game NBA) 2K and watched a lot of the NBA playoffs, even though I said I wouldn't. That atmosphere, I couldn't shy away from that so I just wanted to watch it and learn.
"It was tough, man, because I love to play the game and not being able to play at the highest level, it was tough for me," he continued. "But I'm glad I went through that journey and it's made me a stronger man."
Durant, the 2014 NBA MVP, added that he wouldn't have missed the chance at USA Basketball mini-camp to play alongside some of the league's brightest stars.
"Iron sharpens iron," Durant said. "I'd be a fool if I didn't get with any of these guys. If I wanted to be secretive about workouts, or be by myself, I'd be stupid to do that. To bounce ideas off of Chris Paul, LaMarcus Aldridge, Draymond Green, Steph Curry, that's like heaven, like being in basketball heaven with these guys."
With Durant returning and Russell Westbrook fresh off of winning the NBA's scoring title, the Oklahoma City Thunder figure to be one of the best teams in the Western Conference and possibly even the entire NBA in the upcoming season.
BET Sports News — Get the latest news and information about African-Americans in sports, including weekly recaps, celebrity news and photos of your favorite Black athletes.
Click here to enter the #LookYourSundayBest contest for a chance to win FREE natural hair-care products.
(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
