3-13-24 Phoenix Suns Practice Media Availability: Devin Booker and Kevin Durant
I’ say just be ready from the start um I think they’re coming off a couple losses and they just seemed like the team that wanted it more from from the beginning um as the game continued I think um we woke up and played a bit harder and you
Know made it into a game Curious with with that first game back and coach said you w going to be on a minute restri I was thinking ah okay but you play 38 how were you able to stay in shape with an ankle should be able to play that many
Minutes uh you came back uh well I didn’t do much conditioning um I went through some phases and some waves during the game but you know ultimately I knew it was a an important start to you know our our road trip and just want to come out with a win you talked about
The difficulty of playing Boston OB had some storage moments there with the 70 point game but what makes it such a challenging playe I wouldn’t say challenging I say fun you know exciting you know you want to be a part of that um there’s a lot of
History that that goes into playing in TD guard and in the Celtics franchise as a whole so you know just honoring that history and you know feeling it and want to just go out there and perform thing I have a one turn for his career know he
Didn’t handle it as much he said you would Kevin is that a rare number for a guy that plays that much to have that low of a turnover yeah how many assists one to one no like maybe three or four three three or four to one that’s a great ratio my serous with
With Jason obviously with you being an MVP of yourself what makes him an MVP candidate you think right now just uh his consistency all year um putting up a high number of points stats matter when it comes to MVP um team is winning winning games most importantly by line
Slide I think it was seven games over um um seven games in uh in seed in the league over over everybody so the record factors in too so had MVP caliber Seasons the last few years too so it’s just just a matter of your narrative at this point when you’re
Competing obviously against him he’s someone that he looked to you when he was coming in the league what’s it like now playing against a guy that really patterned your game after you and now you’re going up against in that uh I feel like he ping this game after a lot
Of players I think that’s all the grace do they take from everybody um but you know you Ian I’ve been on this lady a long time now I know when it’s a passing of the Guard you know I know when the young dudes are going to come in and do the same thing
The older guys are doing you know so he’s one of those guys I feel like he’s going to control the league for the next 10 12 years and be a state point in our game and history of our game so this is about competing and trying to you know
Go there and be the best individual you can be because you can see the game pushing forward when you on the court with somebody like that you know you tell so many people watching and Inspire by that matchup so it’s a great opportunity for us to just showcase how
Great the game of basketball is and how great we are as players only other thing I had was what what got to be learn from maybe the last game against Boston not having Deon in the pole that can help can help you guys better chance win I mean just add adding both there
Obviously makes a huge difference another guy that can get his own basket so we got to work cut out for us it’s a tough place to play this team is uh playing Championship caliber ball so it should be a fun how does that te like that just help get
Better yeah I mean when you always get a chance to gaug yourself against the the the tops of the league it’s always good just to see where you are and I think that um you know we got an opportunity to come out there and you know continue
To build our identity and build the stuff that we’ve been working on all year so should be a good one Kev I wanted to ask you about your uh relationship with Al you kind of talked after last game about uh how much time you guys spent together before the 07 draft and
Pre-draft broke out yeah what what what do you remember about those times without uh just just the work ethic you know I was always focused he was he was an older guy coming in opposed to us we was a lot of freshman 18 years old I
Think I was maybe 20 21 years old at the time he just had to Poise about it and he had the same agent so I got the chance to see him work out and watch the process a bit there’s a reason why him and Joe Keem and Cory Brew those guys
Guys had success at Florida you know he was a he was an anchor for those guys so you kind of sensed that early on you sense that’s the type of player he’ll be in the league did you guys get to spend a lot of time together that week or just
Just been working out I mean it was we didn’t get to know each other that you know that personally but just just from working out you know a lot about a person from watching them play basketball I think that’s the most authentic part of you when you see guys
Out there and in their in their groove trying to trying to get better so I felt like I got to know him a lot to just watch him work and also just following his career over time you mentioned there were some uh weight room workouts he
Didn’t get into details about it he said we could ask you about them was a struggle man struggle for me I mean they were natural you know they guys are more mature physically than I was so yeah it was a struggle but I I I stayed in the fight though man that was
That’s what it was all about and um I got to be around him Cory and Joe Kean Champion so seen their mindset early on and was always rooting for since then what do you admire about obviously he’s still going at a high level age 37 what
Do you kind of admire about what he’s been to do in his career just the longevity consistency you got to have a lot of love for the game of basketball to do what Al’s done you know he’s been on teams where they they told him to sit
Down for a year then he got traded a couple of times he’s been injured out for a whole season towards P was out for a whole year came back still um got better and reshaped this game so he just loves the game of basketball he loves the camaraderie you can tell he loves
Brotherhood a team sports you know so I really got appreciation for people like that do do you have a relationship with him like did you guys build like a good relationship from yeah I mean it’s a we don’t talk we don’t we don’t have each other’s numbers but it’s a respect thing
I think every relationship is built on respect regardless of how much we talk how much we hung out there a respect thing I think it’s mutual respect between us both and you know especially as you get older you starting to appreciate the guys you came in the
League with cuz you see guys every year retiring and moving with their lives so to be one of the last few standing um it’s like we can look at it over over at each other and appreciate what we’ve done yeah you you have like that kind of
Pride I think there’s only five five of you guys right yeah I got a lot of Pride about that
Devin Booker and Kevin Durant speak to the media following Phoenix Suns practice on March 13, 2024.
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