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GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 24, 2019

Kevin Durant

Oakland, California

Q. How are you holding up?
KEVIN DURANT: Getting better every day. Going through rehab every day.

Q. Do you feel close to court work --
KEVIN DURANT: Just taking it a second at a time. Every represent we do in the weight room, I try to focus on that represent and not think too far down the line because, you know, I don't really know too much about this injury. I'm just leaving it to the hands of the team doctors and I trust the direction they are trying to put me in.

Q. Does it feel similar to your previous calf injuries?
KEVIN DURANT: No, that was different. Different.

Q. How so?
KEVIN DURANT: It was worse.

Q. Has it been tough mentally not being out there?
KEVIN DURANT: I wouldn't say tough. I mean, just you get that fear of missing out on stuff, like practices and shootarounds and new game plans and stuff like that. That's what I miss the most, obviously, grinding on the court individually and with my team.

But that's out of my hands. Out of my control. Just play hard I could and happened to get injured, and now my task is to try to conquer this, and I think that's the journey we on as basketball players. So I'm pretty much down for anything but I'm excited that I'm making progress.

Q. What have you thought --
KEVIN DURANT: Our play? I think we've been playing great. Obviously guys have to step up, especially off the bench. I think Quinn and Jonas and Fonzo obviously Shawn and Andre and what they bring, but the Houston series, those guys didn't get a lot of opportunities.

But the Portland series, Coach went out there and they played a great brand of basketball on the defensive side of the ball, which allowed a lot of the guys off the bench to play with some confidence on the offensive side. So that was great to see, especially just watching these guys every day and building with them and seeing the ups and downs throughout the season and to get that moment to go to the Finals, that was amazing to see for the young players, especially.

Q. Did you almost --
KEVIN DURANT: I learned my lesson jumping up to reactive plays after that Game 6, a couple of those threes that went down.

So I had to stay on the couch and show my excitement on the sofa. But it was good to see, like I said, guys who haven't played much throughout the season get an opportunity on such a huge stage in front of so many people, and you know, the stuff that I see every day, a lot of people don't. So getting that platform to show your skills was cool.

Q. Last night, Game 6 --
KEVIN DURANT: To be honest, for any team to have a player, a starter, just get injured like that and not play and not travel, obviously a team is going to be thinking about that.

But you know, when you've got a veteran group of guys that have been through the fire, I think it was really cool to see the struggle we had in the first half, as far as, you know, shooting the basketball, but how our defense stayed, and the second half, how we brought it all together. It's crazy watching it from a fan's perspective because you see the game from a bird's view, you know what I'm saying. So it was cool to see everything unfold from a fan perspective.

Q. Do you get any butterflies when you're watching from home?
KEVIN DURANT: Oh, yeah, every play. You know, you feel like you know exactly what each player needs to do to be successful each possession, and you know, you know that's impossible, so each player, like we are down 17 a few times in this last series and I'm just sitting on my couch like, are we going to guard this pick-and-roll? Are we going to -- are we going to stop turning the ball over? I'm just like, I told my friends, that's the stuff what I do out on the court and I know somebody looking at me like stop turning -- run back on defense.

Like I say, I just try to stay engaged somehow, even though I can't play.

Q. What you've meant to this team, your body of works, how have you processed the idea --
KEVIN DURANT: I mean, it's hard to get away from that, you know, because I watch the games and you watch the lead-up into the game and that's all everybody talking about.

My perspective, it's just like, I want to focus on rehab, and I also want to be a fan of my teammates, you know what I'm saying. I want to enjoy my teammates from a different view, you know what I'm saying. A lot of those guys sitting and cheering for the rest of the guys, starting guys, get an opportunity to do the same thing, and I turn on the TV, all you hear is the noise.

As a player, I think about that. I'm just like, it's just not true, you know, that's not facts when it comes to a basketball perspective.

But the competitive side of me, I also like to talk basketball, as well. So if you going to say something like that, I'm going to engage in it. It's all fun. It's all cool, but I know the rim.

Q. Fair play -- do you feel there is a split, you and them?
KEVIN DURANT: Definitely, it's been that way since I got here, it's the Warriors and KD, and I understand that, and I felt like my teammates the organization know exactly what I've done here on and off the court to become a part of this culture, kind of stamp my flag in this culture and this organization. I've done the last two years pretty much everything they asked me to do from player, from ambassador, I guess, the organization and the community, from you know, working hard every single day in shootarounds and practices, so I know what I bring to the team but I also know that a lot of people on the outside, you know, don't like to see us together. You know, I get it.

Q. Before you were injured, you talked about the vibes were so good -- with all the injuries --
KEVIN DURANT: I think just more so experience that everybody's been injured before. It not the first time there's been quite a few injuries or nags this time of the year. We have veterans that have been through the grind for a long time, so I think we can lean on that more so than anything.

Q. Can the noise make you stronger in some ways?
KEVIN DURANT: Depends on who you are talking to. Some people obviously use it for fuel and make them stronger. Some guys don't look at it at all because it might distract them. Some guys like indulging in it. It depends on who you talk to. What doesn't change is the common goal between each -- amongst all of us in what we want to do and I don't think anything would get in the way of that.

Q. Any time you make a social media comment, people say, why are you doing that.
KEVIN DURANT: Because I have social media. I mean, I'm a human being with a social media account. I could see if I ventured off into like politics or like culinary arts or music and giving my input. But I'm stick to go something that I know, you know what I'm saying (laughter) this is all I know.

But I'm actually talking about stuff that I know, which I'm -- I'm kind of -- I mean, what's the word I'm looking for -- I'm qualified to talk about basketball, you know.

So when I respond to something, especially if it's about me personally, of course. I'm going to tell you, if you're wrong about it, yeah, at the moment, when I'm on the training table getting treatment on my calf and I see a Tweet that comeback and I disagree, I don't -- I don't talk to people because I'm worried about what they will say. It's just that I'm interested.

So if you talking about in game or the NBA Finals, it's the same to me, you know what I'm saying.

Q. So even though they missed you on the court, a lot of the guys have been telling us that you've been very helpful behind the scenes. What sort of things have you been trying to provide?
KEVIN DURANT: Just from what I see from a strategy standpoint. You know, last series, we played a lot of trap protocols. We came down, we were down at halftime Game 2 and just, you know, everybody just talking about the coverage on the ball pick-and-roll, on the ball pick-and-rolls, just chiming in and seeing how I could help, and give the guys perspective from a different view. So I think that's always cool. I feel like almost a coach now a little bit; I get to analyze the game, so it's been fun.

Q. Talk about the defense the last series, as a fan watching it, what do you see about Klay's defense that you don't have a chance to see when you're out there?
KEVIN DURANT: Well, I'm -- all my teammates, I know what they can do, and especially Klay. I look forward to every matchup even in November of him guarding a point guard or a wing player.

So nothing surprises me when these guys do anything, you know what I'm saying. It's like you're supposed to do that, you're Klay Thompson, you've been around at five years at this level. If you don't do it, it's a problem to me. So I mean, he's been a great defender since he's been a starter in this league, so that's what I expect of him.

Q. Do you go into the locker room, halftime, after the game --
KEVIN DURANT: No, I ain't that type of guy, man. They know what they got to do. If I see something here and there, I talk to them after film or as we on the court, but those dudes -- trying to hear me talking about what they should be doing out on the basketball court every day no matter if I'm playing or not, you know what I'm saying. If I see a struggle, if I see something, if I see guys need to talk to, I try to engage that while I'm in front of them.

Q. Are you still able to learn -- you've been around this game --
KEVIN DURANT: I'm a master, I'm good. (Laughter).

Q. You're a black belt, nothing above that?
KEVIN DURANT: I don't know, but I'm a black belt for sure.

Q. Do you know if you're traveling for the first couple games?
KEVIN DURANT: I think as we get closer to that time, we'll make a decision. Like I said, it's a process where we try to take it a day at a time and not try to think too far down the line with the next step.

Q. Are you able to do anything besides treatment?
KEVIN DURANT: Just treatment.

Q. No weights or anything?
KEVIN DURANT: Just treatment. That's part of treatment.

Q. Physically, did you know during the West Finals that you weren't going to be able to play in that series?
KEVIN DURANT: Yeah, once I did it, I knew that was -- it would take me some time to kind of get back to the level I was at.

Q. The entire world seems to be scared that it was very, very serious.
KEVIN DURANT: He I can't, I mean, he seen a clip and Reggie Miller screaming, "That's Achilles, that's Achilles," obviously everybody's going to be a little nervous until somebody reassures that it's not.

Q. Were you? Did you feel in your body that it wasn't that?
KEVIN DURANT: I knew -- how I felt once I came down from the shot, I pushed off to run back down the court and I thought somebody tripped me up and I looked back and I'm like, first thing that came to my mind was like Boogie said, Kobe said, Dominique Wilkins said, felt like somebody just kicked them or something kicked them or tripped them or something.

So that's the first thing that went through my mind. I was like, let me slow down and process a bit about what's going on, and then I started walking and realized I could put some weight on it; it's not as bad as I thought, and I was pretty relieved after that.

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