Off the Court, Kevin Durant Prefers Golf — But Not In Real Life
As one of the greatest athletes in the world, there probably isn’t a sport Kevin Durant wouldn’t excel at if he truly applied himself. That said, Durant chose basketball and it’s a good thing he did — he’s one of the NBA’s top players.
Right now Kevin Durant, like all NBA players, can’t get on the court. To pass the time he participates in one of his favorite passtimes — video games. Let’s take a look at Durant’s relationship with video games and how off the court, he prefers golf.
Kevin Durant love of video games
Durant may be a great basketball player in real life, but he’s a solid virtual athlete as well. Durant is a video game fanatic. When Durant made the difficult decision to join the Golden State Warriors during the 2016 offseason.
This drew a lot of criticism for the talented star, and he looked to avoid the negativity in the aftermath of his decision. How did he decide to spend his time?
Playing video games, of course. According to USA Today, Durant holed up in a house in the Hamptons for two days straight playing Xbox with his brother Rayvonne.
It represented a refuge for Durant, who bristled at the constant criticism. It showed what kind of role video games played in his life: it’s not just a hobby of his, but an obsession and an escape. Eventually, Durant returned to the land of the living and helped lead the Warriors to multiple championships.
While recovering from an injury and facing a suspension of league play, Durant has had plenty of time to focus on games. Recently he turned his attention to playing alongside some of his peers in the NBA.
Kevin Durant and his love of NBA 2K
Durant recently organized and participated in an NBA 2K tournament. ESPN broadcasted the event as a way to make up for its lack of live sports coverage due to the coronavirus shutdowns across the country. The event was a unique way to showcase many of the players’ personalities as they coped with the lack of ability to actually play on the court. Players’ mics were broadcast to the fans at home so they could hear running commentary and trash talk.
Players received a seed based on their NBA 2K rating. Naturally, Durant was the one seed, facing off against 16th seeded Derrick Jones, Jr. In what was likely the upset of the night, Jones defeated Durant, 78-62.
Durant was playing with the Los Angeles Clippers and said that while he had no trouble scoring, on defense he “couldn’t stop nothing.”
Durant doesn’t just play basketball video games, however. When it comes to gaming, he’s a multi-sport star.
Where Kevin Durant prefers to play golf
Durant recently appeared on the popular YouTube series Hot Ones to eat some hot chicken wings and also discuss many topics including his love for video games. When asked what game he plays the most other than NBA 2K, Durant gave a somewhat surprising answer:
“Rory McIlroy PGA Tour…I’ll play that like seven or eight hours a day sometimes. Me and my friends will go online and play. It’s so much fun.”
Seven or eight hours is quite a lot of time, though due to the recovery from his injury it’s not like he can do much else. No word on whether Durant’s love of McIlroy’s game will motivate him to pursue the actual game of golf — though based on his swing, KD would be best served by sticking to hoops.
