‘Hold Ourselves to That Standard’: Kevin Durant Brushes Off the Media Pressure on the Nets

Published 10/01/2021, 7:30 AM EDT

Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant is pumped up for his 15th NBA season. Durant is a two-time NBA champion and 11-time All-Star. This will be his third year with the Nets after signing in 2019. However, he missed his first season with the Nets. The 33-year-old forward has now set his sights on his third and Brooklyn’s first NBA title.

Fans have a lot of expectations with the Nets ahead of the 2021-22 season. The Nets have assembled, what they call a ‘super team’, and have added 12 players to their roster. However, they have also let go of 10 players, leading to a massive roster overhaul.

There’s a lot of pressure on the currents Nets roster to perform as they mount an enormous title challenge. Durant has recently opened up on everyone’s expectations and said that the ‘outside noise’ doesn’t matter.

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Kevin Durant opens up on everyone’s huge expectations from Brooklyn Nets

Durant recently appeared in an interview, where he opened up about the pressure on him ahead of the new season. To this, Durant replied that the pressure doesn’t matter much to him. He also opened up on the big expectations fans have from the current Nets team.

“As far as the outside noise, no disrespect for you guys (in the media), for our families, friends, and even our fans expecting us to do so much — if we don’t live up to those, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter,” Durant said.

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“But we want to come out and play a great brand of basketball every night and we hold ourselves to that standard. I expect us to come out there with some swagger and some intensity. But outside noise shouldn’t matter much to this group.”

Durant, who recently turned 33, admitted that the Nets have raised their standard in the NBA and big expectations are understandable. It’s great to hear that the outside noise doesn’t affect him much at this point. Durant is a 14-year NBA veteran and big expectations are normal at this stage.

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Brooklyn Nets start their pre-season at the Staples Center against the Lakers, another title contender this season. They will play four preseason games and will host two of them at the Barclays Center. They also play current champions, Milwaukee Bucks, at Wells Fargo, in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals.

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Abhishek is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports with over two years of journalistic experience with Chase Your Sport and Dribl. A Football Management graduate, he has previously interned in the Indian Super League, I-League and the AFC Champions League. In addition to being a Michael Jordan fan, Abhishek is an ardent Steph Curry and Warriors guy, and believes they have a few more championships in store before the former retires.

‘Hold Ourselves to That Standard’: Kevin Durant Brushes Off the Media Pressure on the Nets

Kevin Durant opens up on everyone’s huge expectations from Brooklyn Nets

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