Rather than debating the morality of gambling, Houston Rockets’ forward, Kevin Durant opts to praise his teammates instead.
The NBA has found itself in hot water, as several scandals have popped up in recent years. Current and former players have both been charged in connection to sports betting operations that are more dramatic and elaborate than anyone could imagine. Allegations so extreme that they caught the attention of federal prosecutors, as seen on Justice.gov.
Thankfully no former Rockets players have been caught up, though Damon Jones did attend the University of Houston from 1994-1997. Still, with people like Jontay Porter getting banned, plus Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups placed on leave —— the problem is evident.
San Antonio Spurs superstar, Victor Wembanyama, is clearly well aware of this discourse. He vows to never promote any gambling sites, which unsurprisingly made headlines yesterday. Even Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets got asked about Wemby’s remarks.
Durant has connections to FanDuel after Boardroom signed a sponsorship deal with them in 2022, so his response was a bit different. Just simply saying, “That’s Wemby,” and keeping it pushing showed that he really had no interest in the conversation. He ended by saying he, “didn’t think about,” the morality of that contract.
That makes sense since he seems to be thinking about basketball 24/7. Instead of talking about gambling during these training camp interviews, KD was more focused on his teammates. In particular, he was showing a lot of love to the new faces on the team like Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Despite already knowing both individuals after playing against them for the last decade, Durant has some newfound respect for each of them. That’s what can happen when you actually get up close and personal, shooting around in the gym with these guys.
The 38-year-old future Hall of Fame forward came away from training camp this week saying he feels motivated by Bogdanovic and his work ethic. While Durant could always see it from afar, witnessing how the Serbian sniper went full-speed every rep was different. KD called it, “inspiring,” saying it, “makes me go harder.”
Those are great words to hear from one of the greats, and Marcus Smart wasn’t left out of the praise. Doubling down on all of his prior statements, Durant added that Smart is a, “true vet that understands his role on the team.” Sounds like the kind of stability of self awareness that this team needs.
Virtually the whole organization will be getting to know each other a whole lot better on their trip to China, as covered on Roundtable. While KD jokingly said they might all hate each other after spending so much time together, I have faith that we’ll get more positivity from that trip. Just keep Durant off his burners and everything will be great.
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