Kevin Durant is at the height of his powers. He's been to nine straight All-Star Games, been a member of the First or Second Team All-NBA in eight of the past nine seasons and has won two straight titles and two straight Finals MVP Awards with the Golden State Warriors.
Yet he's already envisioning the time when he might call it quits. And that might come sooner than you think. In a recent interview with Chris Haynes, Durant likened the game of basketball to school, and said at some point you have to be "ready to graduate." For Durant, that could be as soon as five years from now when he turns 35. Via ESPN:
Kevin Durant, the back-to-back NBA Finals MVP, told ESPN on Friday that he could see himself walking away from the game at 35 years of age, five seasons from now.
"This game, your craft, you have to continue studying it," said Durant. "No matter how much you enjoy it, nobody wants to be in school that long. I know I don't. At some point, you have to be ready to graduate. Thirty-five, that's just a number in my mind."
Rich Kleiman, Durant's business partner, said Durant had previously shared with him that he might walk away at 35. "I heard him say that, but I'll believe it when it happens," Kleiman said.
Now, a lot can change in five years, heck even two or three. Just think, back in 2013 no one could have ever dreamed up a scenario where the Golden State Warriors were recruiting Durant to help them get revenge on LeBron James and the Cavaliers for a Finals loss. That would have sounded like an NBA mad libs situation. But by the summer of 2016, it made perfect sense.
Plus, it's always a lot easier to talk about the end of something major in your life when that end date is farthest away. So, will Durant actually retire at 35? Who knows. K.D. probably won't even know until he gets to the point when he has to make it official. But, it is interesting that he's already floating the idea of retiring early out there.
