At this point in the season, Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is lagging behind Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors in the race for this year's Most Valuable Player plum. KD has been nothing short of outstanding for the Nets early on, but right now, Curry has been doing even more marvelous things for his team down in San Francisco.
As it turns out, however, this fact does not necessarily weigh too heavily in Durant's mind. It's not that the Nets superstar doesn't want to win the MVP award, but according to his manager and business partner Rich Kleiman, KD has the bigger picture in mind:
“I feel like when he feels like he didn't play the right way or the team didn't play the right way, even if they won, that's the kind of stuff that seems to bother him more than like he didn't get his shots or he's no longer the No. 1 candidate in the MVP race throughout the year. I think that's less important,” Kleiman said in a recent interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
For KD, it's all about winning. Durant has already bagged the MVP title once in his career and at this point, he's all about winning a title with the Nets:
“He's championship-driven because he's winning-driven,” Kleiman said. “He wants to win every drill, he wants to win every rep in practice. He wants to win pop a shot when playing with his friends, just a competitive dude, and loves to win and loves to master his own game.
“I think what drives him still is getting better all the time, winning, being a part of the team. I think like, the people around him, myself included, I'll be like ‘Damn man, you gotta be more aggressive in the first quarter, you're leading the league in scoring.' That kind of rhetoric doesn't go away from the people around him and he doesn't care.”
There is no denying that Kevin Durant is one of the most competitive individuals in the game today. If he wasn't, then he probably won't be in the position he is in right now. As it turns out, he also has a good group of people around him who continue to push and motivate him instead of encouraging him to sit on his laurels. After all, he's pretty much achieved everything in the NBA. Nevertheless, Durant remains as hungry as ever.
Kleiman went on to say that for KD, the most important thing remains to be winning when matters the most:
“For all the narratives throughout the year, when you get down to the final few games of the year and you're the best player on the best court, playing against the best people, that's all that we really remember,” Kleiman said. “I think he's at peace with that and has proven that.”
For what it's worth, FanDuel currently has the Nets superstar as the second favorite to win this season's MVP award. Right now, Durant is tied with Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Anteotkounmpo with +500 odds. Curry leads them both by quite a distance at +150 odds. As Kleiman points out, however, this and everything else is just secondary for KD. He has his sights set on winning a championship with the Nets and it appears that he's willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this objective.
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