NBA legends Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal have called Kevin Durant a ‘bus rider’ for joining the Steph Curry’s Warriors team and then teaming up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn instead of leading his own team.
Barkley recently said that the pressure on the two-time NBA champion to lead the Suns to a championship in order to shake away the ‘bus rider’ reputation.
But for Durant these comments don’t matter. He says that he does not need credit from the league’s legends. KD also responded to the comments that he needs to be leader of the team.
Via Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo! Sports:
“Most definitely. Because at this point, they’re saying, go play with Scoot Henderson and win a championship and then we’ll give you credit,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I don’t need no credit from y’all, no credit from [Barkley], no credit from Shaq. Y’all don’t ever have to watch me play ever again, don’t talk about me if you don’t [rock] with me. I’m not gonna stop doing what I do. Everybody has their opinions, man. It’s not gonna stop me and how I approach the game.
“As far as leading a team, I don’t need to coach no team. Whatever happens, we do it together. [Monty’s] the leader, he’s the coach. The GM puts the team together. I’m supposed to go out and hoop. That’s my job.”
This season Durant is averaging 29.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 35.7 minutes per game. He scored 23 points in 27 minutes of play on his debut with the Suns.
