Thursday was eventful for Nets superstar Kevin Durant. In the afternoon, he saw teammate James Harden traded to the 76ers. And in the evening, before he watched the Nets lose a heartbreaker to the Wizards, he selected his team for the upcoming NBA All-Star Game.
Durant, who is out with a knee injury, picked Harden's new teammate Joel Embiid with his first selection. He went on to add starters Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, Andrew Wiggins and Trae Young. For his bench, KD selected LaMelo Ball, Devin Booker, Draymond Green, Zach LaVine, Khris Middleton, Dejounte Murray and Karl-Anthony Towns, before coming to a decision between the two final players available: Harden and Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
“I'm gonna need some size, for sure,” Durant said, tipping off his final pick. Harden is definitely closer to the kind of player who thrives at the All-Star Game than Gobert, a defense-first big man, but the Nets star explained the pick with a dry delivery as opposing captain LeBron James covered up his laughter with a clipboard.
“I'm gonna need some size, with defense on the interior. Especially with Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and LeBron James playing such great basketball this year, I need somebody to offset that, so I'm gonna go with Rudy Gobert.”
The NBA on TNT crew laughed along with LeBron, who then asked a pertinent question about his new All-Star teammate.
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“He hasn't played, is he healthy?“ LeBron asked, citing Harden's recent hamstring injury that cost him the last few games of his Nets tenure.
“He got traded, he's healthy now!” Charles Barkley responded, to another round of laughs, including Durant. “Hey LeBron, trust me right now, he's rubbing some icy hot on that thing, he's playing the next game!”
Durant, who previously played with Harden early in their careers with the Thunder, didn't seem too broken up about the trade, and reportedly already has been in touch with new teammate Ben Simmons.
“I’m excited for our team, looking forward to finishing the season out with this new group and these new players. It‘s playoffs right around the corner, so we gotta fast track into getting used to each other,” Durant told NBA on TNT when asked about the deal. “But I‘m excited. I think everybody got what they wanted.”
