Kevin Durant's Key To Winning? Not Caring Whether Or Not He Wins.

“I told myself before I left my room, I’m at my best if I don’t care if we win or lose,” Durant said. “It might be different for other players. But for me, I’m more free and aggressive, and it's way more fun for me if I don’t care about the outcome. I know if I go out there and be who I am, the outcome will dictate itself.”


My first instinct was to immediately lay into Kevin Durant (from the comfort of my one home - of course), because as soon he decided to sign with Golden State I promised myself that would be my reaction to everything he said or did from here on out. Plus, this quote is completely off the wall. He's tries harder and performs better when he doesn't care about winning? Scores more points and plays tighter defense when he's not remotely concerned with what the result of doing so will be? That doesn't even make any sense, right?

Wrong...

Yeah, yeah. I know, but hear me out. This was actually a genius display of ass backwards tomfoolery from someone who I didn't deem capable of it. He basically just Yogi Berra'd his way out all game-by-game scrutiny. Think about it, he just correlated failure with passion. Missed shots and turnovers with excessive dedication. Literally every time Kevin Durant does anything wrong it's because he wanted nothing more than to do it right. How can you criticize a guy that's never not cared enough during a game in which he played terrible? According to the Chinese proverb of a soundbite he just dropped, you can't. With one head scratching reiteration of "it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" Kevin Durant basically put himself in a no lose situation! Shoots 6-23 in a late 4th quarter collapse? Uhhh, sorry for caring I guess. Disappears during the late stages of a closeout game against a historically great team in the midst of blowing a 3-1 series lead? Guess you just found out what your problem was Oklahoma City. You demanded that your best player want to win while winning and that's the quickest way for him to end up a loser. Well...if you ask him anyway.


h/t USA Today