NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 15, 2025

Kevin Durant

Shaq's OGs

Media Day Press Conference

Q. Kevin, obviously you still have a lot of basketball left in the NBA, but a few years ago you mentioned that you would like to try the EuroLeague experience, in particular in Barcelona. Barcelona is a city with unique charm, has one of the best basketball teams in Europe. I don't know if that is still possible.

KEVIN DURANT: I don't know, man. I doubt it right now. I love playing in the NBA. But I love watching the EuroLeague, too.

Q. Barcelona would be a nice place.

KEVIN DURANT: It would be. Monaco would be a nice place, too. But for now, I love Phoenix. I'll stay there for now.

Q. You and Ryan Dunn will be facing each other tomorrow. What did you think of the progress they've made?

KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, just excited for him, man. Just showcasing his skill all season. The league and coaches know how important he is to our team, so to get this honor is pretty cool for him to be here.

I know he's excited, his first All-Star Weekend, and then to play on Sunday night, too, it should be fun.

Q. How are you taking it all in being back here, just the whole vibe?

KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, it's cool. I didn't know anything would be up here at Oracle. I thought we'd be doing everything at Chase. So to kind of take the route that I used to take when I would come to the games is pretty cool. Nostalgic to see some of the stuff that I've seen when I was here.

I've always got love for the Bay Area and the fans, and it means so much to the game of basketball here in the Bay. I was grateful to play for them for three years.

Q. (Question from Ryan Dunn.) Talk about playing the Rising Stars team.

KEVIN DURANT: I'm locked in on the scouting report. Coach told me I was guarding you on Sunday, so I'm looking forward to that.

RYAN DUNN: You know what happened at training camp.

KEVIN DURANT: In training camp, I pretty much dominated in training camp. Coach labeled me as the captain because I was dominating in camp. So I look forward to doing the same thing against you tomorrow night.

Q. Looking after the All-Star break, one of your first games back, you're going back to Austin. Obviously the Spurs are the home team, but --

KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, it does mean a lot to me. I'm excited that we get to go back to play a regular-season game there. Austin is a place where I kind of started this journey, and to have so many friends and family that are still there from, what, 16, 17 years ago is pretty sweet. So I appreciate the NBA for setting this up. This is a unique time.

Q. Do you have your schedule lined up? Any haunts you'll check out when you're back there?

KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, I'm going to try to roam around the city a little bit. I don't have a set schedule, but I've got some stuff I want to see.

Q. Did you come down 73rd like you used to --

KEVIN DURANT: No, no, no. When I was living at the Millennium Tower, I came that way. But yeah, man, brought back a lot of good, great memories, great memories, being around this area, being around this arena, the fans, the energy, all felt the same, even All-Star practice. So yeah, man, I'm getting real nostalgic right now.

Q. You said something about the impact of basketball and especially like watching all the nations. Do you feel like that feeling is still alive, that people understand the values of basketball to unite people?

KEVIN DURANT: Yeah. I think that when you get events like this, All-Star Weekend, you see so many different -- we don't worry about the competition. It's just more about celebrating the basketball family and the community around this time.

It shows how united we are as a group, as a basketball community, and how we can unite the rest of the world with what we do, as well. It's a cool time.

Q. I was just curious, what do you think of this new format? Do you think it will lead to a different sort of game than we've had recently?

KEVIN DURANT: We'll see. We'll see. It's different from what we're used to, but it's basketball at the end of the day. I think guys will go out there and try to play and impress the fans and stay healthy and give a good show.

Q. What goes through your mind being here?

KEVIN DURANT: Game 5, 2017, winning the championship here, celebrating in the locker room, celebrating on the floor. I think that was the only time we did that. Out of the four championships the Warriors won in this era, I think that's the only time they celebrated at home. So that's pretty cool.

Q. You've gone from OKC, really talented teammates, really talented teammates at Golden State, really talented teammates in Phoenix, and you've maintained the Kevin Durant that we're all accustomed to. What do you think is the key for, say, LeBron now in year 22, to do that with a Luka Doncic?

KEVIN DURANT: What's the key?

Q. Yeah.

KEVIN DURANT: I think LeBron is kind of secure in his game and what he brings to the table. That makes him a great teammate and that allows him to welcome guys with open arms when they come to his team. He don't got to feel like he don't have to do too much to make guys comfortable. He just plays his game. He fits in with anybody.

When you've got guys that can play off any player, smart and experienced like that, it'll work. When you've got talented, high-IQ guys, it'll take some time obviously to work out the kinks, but in the long run I think they'll be pretty sweet together.

Q. What advice would you give your 12-year-old self?

KEVIN DURANT: I feel like I was pretty locked in at 12, man. (Laughter.) I ain't even going to lie to you, man. (Laughter.)

Q. Obviously there was a lot of expectations at the beginning of the year with the big three in Phoenix. What went south, and how do you recover after the All-Star Game and try to push it forward?

KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, we started well. I feel like we definitely could be playing better. I feel like there's a couple factors. We had some guys in and out of the lineup. We're not rebounding well, turning the ball over.

I think just fundamental stuff I think we'll be better. If we fix that coming out of the break, I think we'll have a better chance to win some basketball games.

We made a couple lineup changes, too, that will help us out, adding more size to our starting lineup, so that may help, as well. Our last few games, we've just been playing a better brand of ball. Even though we lost two, I feel like we're just playing a better brand of ball, a more sustainable brand with the lineup switches like that.

We're all figuring it out, man. We've got 28, 29 games to go to figure it out. That's the fun part, trying to figure out how to get out of a slump.