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With Kevin Durant joining the Houston Rockets after his stint with the Phoenix Suns, there's no doubt that he has cemented himself as one of the players that a lot of people look up to. As the Kevin Durant trade has emerged into a seven-team deal, the star also provides some much-needed advice for such stars as Jayson Tatum and Damian Lillard.
Both Tatum and Lillard went through heartbreaking Achilles injuries, to the point where it's likely they miss the majority of next season. Durant has also been a victim of it, and when he was on the “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James and Steve Nash, he would provide some gospel about how to go through it, even saying both of the players contacted him for advice.
“Man, it was a grind. And of course, JT [Tatum] and Dame [Lillard] hit me up. I feel like I’m the Achilles guy,” Durant said. “A lot of guys have bounced back and became themselves again. Mine is just the most popular. A lot of guys have bounced back that I took inspiration from when I was going through my journey. But those guys are cut from a cloth. They’re rare individuals anyway. So this is just a little stoppage in their journey that they’re just going to have to sit down and lock in on.”
“I think it will be easy for them to lock in once they truly grasp that I’m going to be out for a year,” Durant continued. “And I think that takes initially a few weeks for you to truly understand. It’s just probably their first time in their whole lives they got to sit down and not play sport.”
Kevin Durant gives valuable advice to Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum
While Durant prepares for their next journey with the Rockets after the Suns, there could be people around the league who look to him as a mentor for valuable advice. Especially in regards to injuries like the Achilles, he would give insight into how much that impacts one game, especially for someone like Lillard.
“Your game and your body is going to for sure change because with Dame he shoots a lot of those deep threes,” Durant said. “When you tear your Achilles, your calf muscle goes to nothing. You sit around for three months and you can’t move your calf. If you look at mine, I wish I could show people, my right is smaller than my left, but that’s just from not using it for those four or five months. That’s most of the work, you got to get that calf back to that. You’ve got to get it bigger and stronger.”
Durant would mention how deep threes that both Tatum and Lillard shoot could lead to some of those injuries, and how he had to limit those looks and contact.
