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Throughout his 10 years in the league, Kevin Durant has kept one piece of advice near and dear to his heart and mind — “Every time you touch the ball, shoot it.”
If that mentality sounds familiar, it's because it comes from one of the best pure scorers the game has seen — words of wisdom that came from Kobe Bryant the first time he met Durant while he was part of Team USA in 2007, his rookie year in the league.
“I can't remember the conversation, but I was shaking,” Durant said during an interview in his live YouTube stream on Tuesday. “Kobe is a god to me, basketball-wise. So just to see him actually know my name at that time — I was 18 — it was surreal.”
Asked if he had learned anything from one of the game's best, the Finals MVP didn't hesitate to recall his interaction.
“Yeah, every time you touch the ball, shoot it,” he said.
The four-time scoring champion has done just that throughout his NBA career and put it on display recently as part of a torrid five-game series in the NBA Finals, dropping a 35.2 points-per-game average in a star-studded lineup and doing so while shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, 47.4 from deep, and 92.7 percent from the stripe — showcasing his best performance in a playoff series.
Bryant has built a reputation as one of the best minds in basketball, coupling a cerebral approach and a maniacal competitive attitude that made him one of the most feared opponents to face. The Mamba's advice hasn't fallen on deaf ears, and his vote of confidence in a then-young Durant has shown throughout his past 10 seasons in the NBA.
