Kevin Durant felt stressed and frustrated last season in his goal to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to an NBA championship, feeling the need to perform flawlessly.
“Last year, I was obsessed with it,” Durant said of winning a title. “Like, I wasn't going to sleep because I wanted to win so bad. I was screaming at my teammates, at the refs, at the coaches. I got mad because I thought ‘if we have a bad game here, we're not going to win a championship.'”
Durant said this is part of the reason he was uncharacteristically whistled for 12 technical fouls last season — matching his combined total from his five previous seasons.
Durant is trying to ease up a little mentally.
“So I'm not going to let that overtake my mind,” Durant said of his championship chase. “I mean, of course I want to win it, but I'm not obsessed with it. I'm going to put in the work to help my team, but I'm not going to be obsessed with it because that's when I compromise myself, and most of the time it doesn't work out.”