Kevin Durant's undying love for hoops didn't waiver during the NBA lockout, always seeking the thrill of coming onto a basketball court and shredding through the defense in order to score. Former NBA swingman and Los Angeles native Dorell Wright, was one of the people receiving a message from the lanky forward, jonesing for some on-court action.
“During the lockout, KD hit me with a Twitter DM like, ‘Yo, what’s up? I’m trying to play in the Drew League.’ I told him what time our team was playing, but he ended up getting there early and playing with [the rapper] The Game,” Wright told Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. “He shut the gym down. I remember he threw the ball off the backboard to himself, flew down the lane and dunked it.”
“That really set things off for the Drew League and it made other guys want to be a part of it too. After that, you had Kobe and LeBron play. That really gave the league that buzz. We’re talking about All-Star players – MVP-level players – coming to the Drew! And this was before we were in the new gym. These guys were coming to play in our little gym, which only had a few rows of bleachers and then a ton of people standing baseline damn near on the court.”
Whether Durant is a trailblazer of offseason hoops, that is one debate — but ever since, lockout or not — players have delved in these high-level pick-up runs in preparation for the regular season. As most coaches would say, nothing gets a player in better basketball shape than playing basketball.
This wave of popularity in pick-up ball has been infectious as of late, springing The Basketball Tournament, which now has a cash prize of $2 million dollars every summer, and even the BIG3, which has cashed in big time by drawing former NBA players to compete in a highly-entertaining three-on-three game.
Life Time Athletic at Sky and NBA trainer Chris Brickley have been the talk of this summer, with these Blackout Sessions in New York drawing the likes of LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Carmelo Anthony, and Durant to take part during this shortened summer.