When news broke that Kevin Durant rescinded his trade request and will remain on the Nets, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski compared the saga to what happened with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007.
One day later, someone tweeted a photo of Kevin Durant and the late Kobe Bryant. The photo was posted on Twitter to celebrate Mamba Day, which is observed on August 24.
In the photograph, Bryant is seen defending Durant. At the time that this picture was taken, both players were represented by the same agency at Landmark Sports before Rob Pelinka left to become an executive for the Lakers.
#MambaDay Bean x KD 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/BPnRrXTXJQ
— Kingdxmgaming (@Kingdxmgamehub) August 24, 2022
Durant was not tagged in this post, but we know he is very active on Twitter.
He saw the photo and responded with a quote tweet, displaying shockingly good attention to detail, recalling exactly what happened when they played each other on January 11, 2013.
This was a bucket, bean stance was too open and gave me a hook shot going middle. Miss you my boy!!! Lol https://t.co/8UIC4zodFJ
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 24, 2022
Based on the photo, Durant knew exactly what happened. He said:
“This was a bucket, bean stance was too open and gave me a hook shot going middle. Miss you my boy!!! Lol”
First of all, it’s objectively hilarious that Durant felt the need to use Mamba Day to tell everyone that he scored on Bryant during this possession.
I can’t always tell you what I had for dinner last week, so I’m always particularly impressed when someone has a powerful memory. Kevin Durant showed some bonkers recollection skills here.
But the most amazing part of this is that KD was one hundred percent correct about both how and why he was able to score on Bryant. Watch for yourself:
Wow. @KDTrey5 is exactly right. Hook shot going middle. https://t.co/4p87AElP9u pic.twitter.com/YDqLJFe1Bf
— Narc Gasol (@GotEm_Coach) August 24, 2022
Durant finished the game with 42 points while Bryant scored 28 points.
Bryant, who made nine first-team NBA All-Defensive honors during his career, once said that Durant was the hardest player in the league for him to defend.
According to Bryant, KD was easy to defend early in his career because he couldn’t shoot when he was going right and because he couldn’t use his left shoulder in the post.
But eventually, Bryant said that Durant’s versatility just became too much and he retired without being able to figure him out.
Kudos to Durant for not only finding ways to score on Bryant but also for somehow recognizing this exact possession nearly a decade later.
