49ers' NaVorro Bowman used to have to urge Kevin Durant to shoot in middle school

The 49ers linebacker and the Warriors star both look back fondly on their days as teammates

San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman has always seen the best in his teammates, a trait that apparently dates all the way back to middle school.

At Drew Freeman Middle School in Maryland, Bowman played with a lanky player named Kevin Durant. Already measuring over 6 feet tall, Durant was a completely different player.

"I would just always want to please my teammates, so I would pass up a shot to get someone else a look," Durant said. "I always had that trait and that kind of turned into not being aggressive, if that's what it was called."

Durant carried that humble attitude into the NBA. He notably turned down the nickname "The Slim Reaper" because he didn't like the connotation of it. Of course, since joining the Warriors, Durant has performed a heel turn of sorts. Bowman remembers a very different KD than the one that plays in Golden State.

"Can you believe that we used to have to tell him to shoot?" he asked during an interview with the Associated Press. "Yeah, we had to tell him to shoot. We knew that he could play in the game and he would eventually get better, how tall he was, back in the day if you were that tall you would be in the post or you would be in the paint. This guy was on the wing."

Things have come full circle for Durant and Bowman, being raised in the D.C. area and eventually going to play in the Bay Area. Bowman has said that he plans to be at Game 1 of the NBA Finals against Cleveland Thursday night to cheer on his friend.

Bowman says Durant has turned into the star he always knew he could be. USATSI

Bowman and Durant remain close, and Durant is supporting Bowman as he comes back from a torn achilles. Both players are embattled, and both are certainly in the top tiers of competitiveness. However, they find the time to relax from time to time.

"He comes over all the time and he comes to games," Durant said. "It's one of those legacy things that we'll sit down and talk about forever, people from our area just for this to come together like this is divine and it's special. I have a friend for life in him."  

Both players hope to stay near the top of their respective sports for a long time, and they both have the physical tools to do so. As Durant plays on a potential dynasty team and Bowman hopes that Kyle Shanahan can turn things around for the 49ers, both players will always remember a time when Bowman was barking at Durant to just to take the shot.