Kevin Durant’s Europe Excuse For The All-Star Game Is A Stretch

Kevin Durant wants you to believe the NBA All-Star Game fell apart because of the Europeans.

That is the hill KD is choosing.

Asked on Wednesday ahead of All-Star festivities about the level of effort in the game, Durant pointed overseas.

"You should ask the Europeans and the World team if they're going to compete," Durant said. 

Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets handles the ball as he is defended by Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder. (Photo by Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)

"If you look at Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic now, let's go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So, we haven't questioned what they've been doing. But we're going to question the old heads and the Americans. 

"But these two dudes out there, Luka and Jokic, they don't care about the game at all. These dudes are lying on the floor. They're shooting from half court. But you've got to worry about the old heads playing hard? I can read between the lines, bro. It's just an overall topic that everybody's been talking about."

That is not subtle.

Durant is arguing about a lack of a double standard — that veteran NBA stars, particularly American ones, get hammered for low effort while international players skate by.

Let's also not ignore the subtext. 

KD is implying Black stars are labeled lazy while European players are framed as fundamentally sound and hardworking.

For a guy who says he can read between the lines, KD is struggling to read the room.

The criticism around All-Star Weekend has not been about race or nationality. It has been about effort. Fans are reacting to what they are watching, which is a glorified LA Fitness scrimmage.

Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets. (Photo by Tyler Schank/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images)

And here is where the argument wobbles. The reality is that basketball often covets the perceived grind of European players. They are commonly viewed as coming up through tougher systems, with less coddling and more emphasis on fundamentals and physicality than many recent American prospects.

Around the sport, European players are not seen as soft freeloaders getting a pass. They are viewed as tough and physical.

Just ask UCLA coach Mick Cronin.

"Find me the biggest, nastiest, vodka-drinking Eastern European you can," Cronin said this week. 

"That’s what I told Yogi [Nemanja Jovanovic] as he’s meeting with all these agents from all over the world. Just find some guy that used to wrestle bears in Lithuania or something. The Big 10 is no joke. Everybody’s big, everybody’s strong."

Going back to the pros, recent iterations of the All-Star Game have drifted into cruise control, and NBA veterans are guilty of setting the tone on their own part of that.

If you are looking for someone who helped turn the All-Star Game into a glorified scrimmage, you can start with the generation of NBA stars, Durant included, who normalized the idea that defense during the ASG is optional and that popping half-court 3s is the way to go.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić drives to the basket against Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey and Philadelphia 76ers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

This lack of care from players did not start once Serbia and Slovenia started producing MVPs. 

Established NBA veterans have treated the event like an exhibition for years.

Now, with the NBA pivoting to a Team USA vs. World format, the league is clearly trying to inject real stakes into a product that has lacked them. 

If Durant truly believes international stars are coasting, this new setup gives everyone a chance to prove otherwise.

Fans do not care where you were born. If anything, they're rooting for the Americans. And they mainly care that the game is unwatchable.

If NBA veterans are tired of being questioned, there is a simple solution. Play harder.

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