“Hoop as much as possible.” That’s the advice NBA great Kevin Durant gave to young hoopers who want to make it to the NBA or excel at basketball.
And when Durant says “hoop,” he actually means playing actual basketball games—the five-on-five kind. To be clear, he isn’t knocking individual work because he says he did that, too. It’s just that he’s a firm believer that five-on-five hoops is where players really get better.
“Play five on five. Against live bodies. That’s more beneficial than working out by yourself all the time. My first few years I might’ve worked out at 10:00 am, but then I’m playing pickup all around the city,” Durant said on Baseline Banter. “Outdoors, I’m playing four to five games of pickup, just working on my instincts the whole day. Four times a week. From like 19 years old until I’m 24. I look back and that was just way more beneficial than just getting in the gym working out by myself.”
Kevin Durant Knows What He’s Saying
For what it’s worth, Kevin Durant probably knows more about getting better than most. His body of work proves it. The Slim Reaper is now in his 18th season in the NBA, and he’s carved out quite a legendary career for himself.
Now 37, Durant is still averaging 25.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists on 50.6% shooting overall, 40.3% from downtown, and 88% from the charity stripe—all while missing just three games so far. For his career, Durant has averaged 27.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists while shooting nearly the same percentages.
Of course, Kevin Durant is probably in the top five percent of history’s prodigious hoopers, which is why he’s become a legend in basketball. But best believe he also got better from all those five-on-five games he played even before entering the NBA.
