Kevin Durant recently sat down for a fun interview with Taylor Rooks as part of the new season of “Take It There," during which the two discussed Durant's bizarre old tweets, adjusting to life in New York City, and the late, great Kobe Bryant. During the episode, Durant was also asked this hypothetical question: “If you could only watch basketball highlights of five players forever, who are the players?”
Elsa/Getty Images
Durant quickly rattled off Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, before adding Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
“Kobe, Mike… Damn, that’s tough,” Durant said. “Shaq, Magic and Bron.”
“If I couldn’t watch anyone else, and I just had to watch those five, I think I’d be good the rest of my life,” Durant added.
In regards to Kobe specifically, KD explained just how much he values the way the Black Mamba played the game, something he got to witness first hand during their time with Team USA in 2012. Says Durant (H/T Clutchpoints):
“Just the first few practices of Team USA in 2012. Just his approach to practice and then also how he played the games and his focus on what he wanted to do out there on the court. He was a defender for us and a shotmaker. So to see Kobe play a role outside of just being the main scorer, it showed me that anybody can lock into a role and perfect it.”
“As a hooper, I wanted his aesthetic as a player. It was pretty sweet to see his methods. I didn’t really get to appreciate it until I got older as a player and start to see, ‘Oh that’s what he meant’ when he was doing it this way. I’m always going to live with Kobe in my heart.”
Check out the full interview in the video embedded below.