A former late-night talk show host who worked in Manhattan for decades took his act across the river to ask Kevin Durant questions at Nets media day in Brooklyn on Monday.
For reasons unknown, David Letterman chose to liven up Durant’s season-opening press conference for the Brooklyn Nets by asking him, among other things, why people call him KD, what percentage he planned on giving this season and whether Durant giggles when he plays the New Orleans Pelicans.
Letterman introduced himself to Durant as Dave from Basketball Digest and it seemed like the 32-year-old NBA star recognized him and realized the questions were jokes. But, outside of one giggle, Durant stopped short of laughing.
An Indianapolis native, Letterman is known to root for his hometown teams and it is unclear why he crashed Brooklyn’s media day. A rep for Letterman did not immediately respond to a request for more information from The Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to being trolled by Letterman, Durant also had to deal with questions about fellow Nets superstar Kyrie Irving, who was prohibited from attending media day in-person because he is reportedly not vaccinated.
“I expect it not to be [an issue],” Durant said when asked whether or not he was “concerned” about Irving’s availability to play due to his vaccination status. “That’s on Kyrie. That’s his personal decision. What he does is not on us to speculate. I expect us to have our whole team at some point.”
If NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had his way, the Nets would never have their whole team in place if Irving doesn’t get vaccinated because he believes unvaccinated players should not be allowed to play in the league.
“The NBA should insist that all players and staff are vaccinated or remove them from the team,” he said. “There is no room for players who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates, the staff and the fans simply because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation or do the necessary research. What I find especially disingenuous about the vaccine deniers is their arrogance at disbelieving immunology and other medical experts. Yet, if their child was sick or they themselves needed emergency medical treatment, how quickly would they do exactly what those same experts told them to do?”
A good question and perhaps one that Letterman should have asked Durant. Or, better yet, Kyrie.
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