In a special episode of Boardroom Talks, Durant sat down with Speedy Morman for one of the most candid conversations of his career.
Kevin Durant has been one of the most scrutinized, analyzed, and debated athletes of his generation. So when Speedy Morman sat down with the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer at KD’s home for the latest episode of Boardroom Talks, the conversation that unfolded wasn’t the one you might expect. It was looser, funnier, and more revealing than any press conference or postgame media scrum has ever managed to produce.
It started, as so many KD conversations do these days, with something that went viral for the wrong reasons. The Nobu bush photo — Durant’s beanie barely visible over a hedgerow, an image the internet immediately ran with as proof that the greatest scorer alive was hiding from paparazzi — got addressed quickly and dispatched just as fast. He wasn’t hiding: “Why would I hide behind the bush? Why do I need to hide? I wouldn’t have went to Nobu then because Nobu is the paparazzi capital.” He admitted the photo was funny and then they moved on. Which is exactly what KD did with the whole thing once the AI video of him jumping over the bush started circulating; some jokes you just have to let run their course.
From there, the conversation moved through KD’s childhood in the DMV, the 2007 NBA Draft, NIL, the New York Knicks‘ championship run, Russell Westbrook‘s retirement, and LeBron James heading to Philadelphia. Durant’s verdict on the Sixers was unambiguous. “That’s going to be a juggernaut,” he said, pointing to the championship-caliber front office and coaching staff around James, Embiid, Brown, and Maxey. “I think it’s not no ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
When Morman brought up Jalen Brunson‘s famous decision to leave $113 million on the table, Durant didn’t pretend he would’ve done the same. “I don’t think I would be advised to do that,” he said. “I probably would’ve been like, ‘All right, I’m cool with it.’ And then I’d have sat down and talked to all my people — Rich, all my friends — and been like, ‘What? You serious? Why do you need to take that risk when this dude’s a billionaire?'” He paused. “But for him to make that decision and it come out the way it did, kudos to him.”
Some of the most illuminating moments came when Durant talked about the parts of his life that rarely make headlines. His best teammates, for instance, aren’t the names you’d expect — alongside James Harden and Nick Collison, he listed Nasi Muhammad and Daniel Marshall, guys whose families he knows, players he’s stayed close with long after the locker room days ended. And then there are the friends he made playing video games, people he’s now known for almost a decade, invited to his home, trusted completely. “I can call right now,” he said of one of them. “He going to pick the phone.”
The CeraVe deal came up, the one that turned his legendarily ashy legs into one of the most memorable brand campaigns in recent memory. Durant’s explanation for why he refuses to lotion before games was delivered with complete seriousness: The ball gets slippery, the sweat mixes with the lotion, and suddenly you’re fumbling passes at the worst moments. The ashiness was simply an occupational hazard. “He knew what he was doing,” Durant said of the original photo that launched the whole thing, then laughed.
Near the end, Morman asked KD what comes next. The answer was characteristically direct and unexpectedly revealing: He wants to keep making content, build relationships, and see what falls from them. But one goal stood above the rest. “One of my main goals is to be the GM of the Team USA,” he said. “One of these Olympics, one of these years. I want to do that job one time.”
He’s got time. He’s still, by his own account, got buckets left in him.
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