[FULL] Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley walk down memory lane in exclusive sit-down interview | ESPN

yeah we're the first time you guys okay okay so I take the pizza that's when I knew we had boy targets norm you see you see I came up I'm like it's a bunch of them in the house I know so an apartment I'm like you had to figure out how to get some food me and my brother solves always will I understood Wow and then he start hanging he started coming out coming at your place yeah I mean we just we just made up at the record lot and wherever we practice you know and got everybody we just kind of yeah yeah we just kicked it you know good vibes all the time and we and on the court - we know how to play off of each other what do we do with that let's see see back then no I was just the rebounder yeah he was just like people don't know like yeah straight rebound hey dick I had like 30 rebounds again old friends remembers and everything get off his rebound and just throwing out the Katie so he was still shooting long I was sure ya know like exactly how you play man so this - I was never a plan never never played - back to the bat-poles I worked them always all the time we're the tallest one still there yeah like foot like full while we kind of went back and forth he just taller when he turns when he turned he turn 18 why did he finally this will last you finally admitted how tall he really is six 11 and 3/4 we know she you stand next to Zaza Pachulia you DeAndre Jordan he's short them dudes is short nobody not said to you know they're not seven feet like y'all I think they are seven feet oh yeah he's well he's seven feet I'm not close to him okay peace yeah he tall we got a wiki by names like 7 to 17 Luke Cornett hey soo many dudes coming in do you know who that is every game I still do like who is this what did you think of what you think of Katie when you first saw I saw pictures of when he was little he's obviously crazy I knew he was I know he was going to the NBA then when he's 11 years old Wow why yeah like I was just sitting at the practice one day oh I think they were just wanted to play throwing something and Chuck and Jeff was sitting behind me talking about you and it like man he got he got dizzy like that and I looked up and he was like hey walk underneath wanted a broken for clicker legs and then like maybe like a year later we are we went oh yeah I couldn't believe like we could we was holding her we weren't holding up the who so we just had to go to the side the side court or to do hard to make was saying like get this kid cross cross 40 feet Wow Wow I was like my whole life I was always trying to catch up to where he was all right well when I'm like I ain't never played basketball but on the parks I'm saying like like he was like it's been eight working on this game remember stinking storytelling five feet when you drove over northern time stuff running dog Hills I ain't never worked though I was just like it's just home to playgrounds just ashes hoop on the playground always got picked first type guy you know saying see see my story Lord different alright so I was like in the gym I was in the gym a lot but I was go outside and play like Mike was more he had better feel for the game at that age than I did because all I did was I was in the gym by myself so like he said he was always outdoors playing with other kids so I ain't really had a luxury I couldn't do that you know I'm saying I had to oh yeah yes yeah so I had to I had to I had to just you know cook up and so I got it led to my coach let me go outside and play you know I'm saying so I was one of those dudes so he had a better feel for like a game situation or a plan against people you know I'm saying so at the age of my Pam I want to be like that it was like it was like man I wanted to be I wanted to be I wanted to come that easy so it was always easy for he said that at that age he knew you were going to the NBA when did it hit you that that was that could be reality say my whole thing without like confidence early Sam I knew I was nice but I had to play well in order for me to really felt like that so when I didn't play well you know my confidence always took a hit I'm saying so who's always up and down so I don't really know until I got to college and I was just like I started to gain a confidence and after a while I'm like oh yeah this should be this would be a reality right here like this is my life now I'm good appreciate it so at that age when I'm playing 18 18 I'm like alright I'm in the league then next year I'm doing stuff in college that as a freshman nobody was doing next year hey he comes yeah Kansas State I'm like oh my god this is this was we always talked about that who's always together from ninth grade now Oh 9th grade year that's when we really got tight we was catching the bus he got kicked out of school sighs yeah coaches to JV coaches to pick us up in the mornings to take us to school cuz we live so far away so he was always together traveling to tournaments and he was like man we knew he was better than anybody we knew that like one-on-one like dudes couldn't really stop us you know I'm saying so we're envision that you know I'm saying doing what we did in college skies we knew the sky was the limit once once I saying well he was doing them like oh yeah yeah what we did as kids it kind of paid off you you guys basically look at you your career path you guys play a you together what was those spirits is like you guys want a championship or a couple together yeah we know we got trouble one day and it was all because of me rest and some tours I thought forget the rest first of all you find a forecast you're gonna plan use watching somebody else play and we was just another crap says some man we get out there and we we score 20 points in like three minutes don't nobody as I don't discipline got disciplined a lot unique ways you know I'm sad we hey you together you guys both attended the same high school not at the same time our first year we did is it what school was that National Christian national person I didn't had a great play the second half for the year we played JV you play at all would know I started but then I didn't have the first make the competitive balance little you hear my way to kid in JV league I I was I didn't have confidence then like when we got the eighth grade ninth grade like I was still like my my I was still like the rebounder comes and I went to IMG I thought that yeah that's I went to IMG for here I came back home it was killed on like to me I was the same person saying player but just everybody just looked at me different I'm just jumping higher but that was the first like firstly I actually like working out lift weights then you know oh okay what age were those days that you guys first had your first dunk oh I'm level eight grade we're head of the room we work out we do it is my turn who got the best of each other most of the time I mean it was pretty even he was at one foot jump yeah I was a long long you know it still say no to so he like he could flock he know how to jump quickly to me like that one foot like I I want able to jump over my one foot I was just stretching that's crazy both from PG County yeah it's crazy crazy I had the opportunity Katy invited me out for his uh his city uh celebrated his championship and that was crazy because I've seen I've seen the neighborhood it seems like everybody knows knows each other that's to feel like I yeah but it's still crazy to think that two guys from that area made up this floor when you look at me obviously you guys his career has taken on different levels and went different ways what do you guys think about when you think about what you guys came from to where you are now obviously it was fun yeah we had a good time kids yeah I tell people all the time like man when you're a kid you don't know you in the hood you don't know you poor you don't know you know you just just accept in your environment when you were a child and that's when your friends are really your friends wholeheartedly and nothing is malicious and it's always you know maybe you stole somebody's girlfriend every turn when somebody's paying but when your kids like you forgetting out kid free and not forget you don't even know like you just just out there having fun man good guys I met him then I met Nolan but after notice man up into that that point like like I ain't really had no friends because like I would move around so much we get evicted yeah this place and effort is definitely that place so like Katie was my room I he's my first real friend I like sleepovers like like hey he was the first time I haven't brought my you bring your game like it was fun for me man and then I had a place to go to the REC every day with where people would just accept me for me and you know it was like for me man it was just fun and once we started playing I want you guys to level we got to it was it was beautiful come from now looking back on it but our neighborhood wasn't like it wasn't friendly you know Chan it wasn't like we could just go to anybody's house for that home you know I'm saying like you had to watch him back out there no I'm saying but it even if you've gone out of street you're in a different neighborhood it was Nate it was territories out there where we come from so we hope though you know I'm saying what you were hope you feel like you get past this everywhere ja so we hope we hope everywhere you know I'm saying you know you care like we was we were hope everywhere and that was that's when I started realized with friends was about cuz I gotta say I was always in the gym either by myself or with Mike or my team so it was like I ain't really had no no real friends either like I mean friends at school with my next-door neighbor like I'm moving around so much every year I move we move different apartments moved we lived in every part of PG County life so it was like we really had no stable friends or stable household you know I'm saying mom does that work I was working there we were just hoping so people that we can't that we was around all the time was just us you know I'm saying his kids like my mom's was let me run the house and like nah she was gone gone work I'm at the house by myself me and my brothers or whoever that is old by the time my brother was my older brother was 8 he was cooking breakfast and dinner for I was so we had to we had to figure it out so basketball is what brought us all together yeah and we just you didn't start to see like the person you know I started to see what he'd like to do I start to see his family I started to see what he was passionate about outside of basketball and the same with me and we just gonna see it now it's like no matter what our careers are no matter what I do on the court without no matter what he does on the basketball court we had a position where we could take care of our families forever everything is happening now it's a cherry on top you guys everybody has that that one person they think of what somebody Ashley who was that guy who who had the talent to make it out but just did is there is there anybody that sticks out we like man he was married to me or he should have you got I'm not saying they don't grab streak he was yeah he was bigger than all of us at the time but he was somebody I was like he the only person in neighborhood I prime not better than but I was now think about I was way better than him at the time but he's just put that fish it was a lot of dudes like yeah like you just say the same size like he just he was like 511 six feet first and they so we played I played that see pleasant activity center Carlos guy played at cedar Heights and so we was it was right down the street from my rec so we could just walk there so but it was a little small rivalry within the neighborhood player cuz erect league was the best back there all the players from DC I mean from PG County that made it either went to college or play in NBA they all play in is rectly kids like that's I started to see that we had a lot of talent in that area so it was a little small robberies each rec center and that's what kind of that's what that's when we started playing but that's when we knew what playing competitive basketball was about right and it was like now you found your crew - you know I'm saying so you roll with dudes and you know maymay it made a hole thank fun so call wasn't uh he played down the street from us my yo and now with the elementary school with him and he living around my neighborhood before and like two years had went past I see him and I know where he like six feet like this Lefty yeah but then you end up playing on our team for the Jaguars so we would crew to him to come play what else do you like you know we need to do you know so you know that show I'm doing with Apple yeah it's based around our team so every character is gonna be you gonna see my so there's gonna be a Mike it's gonna be a Brice Brice like what they told me Brice my boy he was just in Cabo with me about the Oscar Mike so me and Bryce got real tight the last few years like yeah that's my boy so he played in our team why kid from North West used to catch the train a bus to come and play with us cuz we were so good he was enriched white chocolate city [Laughter] when I see the stereotype big yeah that's that's the thinking that we got as kids though you know I'm saying that's like that we should be thinking like that as a kid so all right you just see what we come from where it's like you have no clue what's going on outside of that PG County area so now that we're gonna be out here saying where we planted in New York City I'm in San Francisco like that's an inspiration to all the young kids in that neighborhood [Laughter] what's the first time you guys aren't too far what was the first time you guys went to go close-up view at a White House like mm mm mm 410 so you guys are grown yeah go to ride my bike downtown DC and that's the first time I wrote in front of it was 2014 and I lived on Pennsylvania Avenue Wow I like when you young I went to see the fireworks one year like I think it was 98 my mom my brother well we was like I got mile away from the monument you know that's the closest I've got to any of it you know close as I would get is just going to empty ice and at the time I would I didn't know the White House was I thought the White House is like you know like 10,000 whole block yeah that's one thing for sure and I still I see all that is what funny because you know Katie you know you got place of Oakland as well there's kids that I talked to in Oakland whose each side open which is you know kind of rough rough but they've never been across the bridge to San Francisco that's how it is though like like I know a whole lot of people in Miami like full out of there never been to South Beach yeah that's just like no it's just is cuz you know it's there you know I'm saying it's not like a but it seems so far seem so far you hear everybody everybody's been at Times Square yeah you're right because there's a thing you know and it's so easy to get just weird like you know you stay on your section stayed in our section we stayed PG and just going around PG was a was a trip for us so I stayed copyright c plus the District Heights area that was all around like the st. yeah that was 10 minutes from each other I didn't leave it unless I was going to play ball or like so we felt like we was trapped yeah you know I'm saying like what is a minnow trap like you can go you can get on the train and go down there and go see whatever you want to see so as I got older I would I would catch the train and I would like just I will go to Northern Virginia just as just to see different stuff I will go to comic-con yeah just to look at different stuff cuz they're way better more exactly we know that until we like to start hoping in going places I went to Florida we went to Memphis one we've seen Elvis Presley uh we've seen the Elvis Museum I was like yo this is crazy first time I raced by the way like like tour buses like these catch the bus all the time Georgia North Carolina and Ocean City man we had a good time you know all just playing basketball what would it have what would have happened where are you guys at basketball wasn't in guys's life right now I'm probably living with my mom yeah at the rec center you're not living at your mom at 30 years old I swear like like not to say that we're not good at anything else but like at that point we put a ball in the basket who are we looking at like I didn't even clear I didn't declare major in college I gotta start from scratch ain't getting that one credit who are we looking at the inspiration around our career was like staying here and a rec center people looked up to him that's what I always say always about the game always tell him that all the time like they always do never never get away from the game like all this other stuff that goes on around basketball it does not matter because without this ball bouncing he gets mad when I asked him a question outside of basketball I actually like talking about stuff other than that like that god I don't give the business about this drama around basketball I don't like that relationships and things like that yeah cuz it don't matter we know you guys okay same a you program same high school because guys both went to the big 12 yeah both freshmen Conference Player of the year's both the number two pigs here gonna draft yeah it was it was a point where he thought possibly that he probably couldn't get drafted by the same picks before but but but since then the NBA paths have gone different Katie's went this level you've been different teams then it seemed like this narrative has circled around you as far as what who is Mike Beasley what is he about is he dedicated to the game when you start seeing people questioning you as a player even questioning your character what was going through your mind at that time how are you dealing in for them focusing on that at first at first I handled like anything like anybody will handed down on myself you know just the wrong way like kind of philosophical myself like but then it's just like got to a point where you know you gotta look yourself in the mirror and you can't be honest with yourself and you can't be honest with anybody you know so once I was able to be honest with myself you know you can start to weed out what's true and what's not true I'm saying once we get to that point man once you're honest with yourself like nobody else can be dishonest with you but you can't tell me I I do anything other than what I do when I go home whether that be this whether it be that you know so it it was hard at first but at the same time like he said man like the basketball is would were matters I'm saying like nobody nobody can tell me what I do or how many shots I take up or how many hours I spent in a gym or you know anything you know so it was hard it's tough but life is what life is what whether you contribute to how much do you feel like you contribute to it and if you have something what is that what will there - I mean it's it's it's it's a lot of different variables that could go into you know for me to sit here and say it was all your fault in your phone your phone your for that like for each other you know like at the end of the day everything I've been through on and off the court I'm the only common denominator you know so I will be very immature I would be very naive as the thing like it was always somebody else so so Mike it was always about focus he got a supreme scale you know I'm saying and he could put the ball in the basket and he got a knack for the ball you know I'm saying it's always around the boss so I knew that as a kid like you know like you say he was getting rebounds a grown man couldn't get in the game you know I'm sad son like he got a knack for the basketball but my thing was like I had an appropriate fear I knew if I can go to the gym that I wasn't gonna be able to phone them the right way or the next game I wouldn't be able to you know go out there and produce if I didn't work on my game Mike he had to go through this you know I'm saying he had to realize like that this could be taken away from me if I lock in and I knew that as a friend it was tough for me to see like people you know defaming his character my I just do really do anything for anybody he's lawyer he loves his friends he loves his family he loved the game of basketball but like I tell a lot of people I was fortunate enough to go into a situation where I don't have to play behind D way or I didn't have to live in Miami or as a 19 year old or if I did different story you know I'm saying like it might have been a different story my mom's was only from day one you know I'm saying she was always there yeah she was always there you know I'm saying always there to let me know when I'm messing up and sometimes Mike that had that you know I'm saying he had that person as an 18 19 year old let him know like look man like this is sacred right here Mike you might need to focus on this a little bit more he focused on the game he loved it but you need to put your whole mind and body and spirit into this and you know I'm saying and I had that early at an early age I had people telling me about that you know I'm saying he's like you said he came from playing street ball like kids put his parents his mom and her prior was like yo you want to play ball oh cool have a good time my mom's is like yo get up here I go to the gym you know I'm saying so it's like it's all about what she was taught as a kid and those habits that you build and after a while keep it with some you know some tough habits as he would say but now he had to go through that just so he can see now that look every team he's been on the last few years is like you know what you're gonna get out of them you scored 20 points any knife he'd give him the ball now he just needs somebody to really invest in that and want that and I foes a fellas time now so it was just we're gonna end up at the same place it's just gonna be different different paths you brought up I was gonna ask Mike about that Miami how tough is it 18 19 year old kid living in Miami [Laughter] we can't I knew ya Susie I drafted in Miami all of us was like oh this can't be good every day so I'm not even leaving the house and I got a C Bell older dudes and I watch over me a little bit so who did you have what was that like CI everybody came down like he had all the right dudes when they burrow to do they we look no but I wanted to come hang out we we used to watch growing up whooping with the collars right you know people that really cared about us and still care about us today not to say that any of my my family and friends didn't it's just a kid like like I'm breaking down to two to two different ways to you can love me to death which is love is genuine love or you can love me too like I'm saying now loving me to death is sitting here giving me my face or telling me what I'm doing is it's right just so you don't make me mad just go and you love me you just don't want to see me mad or upset but loving meat of life itself marry April like stop doing that like you don't you need to get in the gym you need that you know yeah things that I might not want to do or things that I might not have on my mind that you know what kind of almost forcing me to do it stopping me to do certain things helping me do other things you know so he had like the good people from the neighborhood everybody else but I was grown to play basketball mr. Miyagi Hey yeah everybody knew it at a young age like I this is what I wanted to do Mike ain't like wasn't like that you know I'm saying I was I was playing boss as I was eight but being taught how to play boss since I was eight you know I'm saying it was the difference between just going outside and playing and then I was taught how to do certain snowing outside playing 33 yeah like it was like I had a little bit more discipline around me I wasn't I wasn't good at being disciplined as a kid obviously but like I had people that was just like gotta do this you gotta do that Mike ain't had that so his path was actually harder than what miles was you know I'm saying so like you gotta be more you gotta be mentally tough to do what he did for me it was kind of like there you go so that's why I don't then okay see ya it's kind of a similar situation where I'm pretty sure not a lot of people like I wouldn't change it like those like those lessons I said I had to go through to do that to something you know to rock my rock my head back around the lake like he said he was going to play like I use just pick it up because I was good like not that I didn't love it I always looked is my heart like I was always just like you know like like you said playing outside all the time playing 3333 paint turning three school outside the paint and we played on the pole yeah oh yeah no that makes oh no I've been on a few times but after the first couple times you know explain so butter on the PO is like 33 but the loser by the way is like it's half course like 15 of us playing the last one to get to a certain number you had to is a pole outside you had to wrap your body around a pole everybody get the ball and throw it at your Bob so there's 15 of us you give 15 times [Music] you gotta hit him in the butt so if you hear someone in the back they go oh my bad my bad won't hit you again so I was like that build up that line so that's how I know it was just all I'm not trying to hurt you know I don't want you know so it's just a different path I had to learn how to I had to grow up man was a lot of things that like once I start playing basketball just kind of got handed to you know and I didn't really know how to learn the different road I think I'm jumping in on this this dish I see some steak on we all just grew up differently I had to go through certain things in order for me to finally gain confidence in myself and know who I am outside of basketball like we just had to deal with different things we both went through a lot you know I'm saying to get what we are today and we're still growing that's the perfect angling but once you realize that it's all going process that's what you start to appreciate what's that ADA taught well appreciate appreciate this fellas not some bridge like Katie talked about the coos applaud of your life in it watching you kind of go through your trials and tribulations in the NBA now Hill on the other hand it seemed like the scrutiny or if you want to call the scrutiny didn't come to him until he joined the Warriors with a lot away yeah what was your thoughts so we're not we play in Milwaukee last year I'm coming out the hallway the first thing to do is give me a big hug like now I'm proud of you and he chose Steve Novak who I played with - yep what close friend of mine he was like he was looking at was kind of crazy he was like mad like that I wouldn't have made that decision a few years back like I'd have been worried about everybody like trying to make everybody make everybody I was happy he gave me a big hug and that made me feel good because it's like man like he know me too coy you know even though me from late hey nine ten years old when I am so like I had nothing so I was like man up that made me feel good that was especially he always like I hit you to shut off his back I know a lot of people say that man but like like that's not like that's always been we was like even he would sacrifice things he want to do to make somebody else happy you know so when I seen him make the decision to go to the Warriors like I'm not looking at him joining his or joining this I'm looking at him wanting to play basketball a wholehearted basketball so where it's it's no pressure but it's fun the numbers is for everybody shots is for everybody always making the right you know playing basketball the right way but more than that he made a decision to make itself happy man and I was so happy to see him do that because up into my life I had done that you know and that just like made me feel like it kind of inspired me to do certain things not just basketball for certain things in my life better and to treat myself because cuz we we work and and people you know it's a game at the end of day but we worked so hard and we put our life into it we sacrificed so much that everybody else don't and we never get to treat ourselves you know we always take care everybody else and I'm not that it's a burden or anything like that but like not a lot of decisions are made of what you want in your heart and when you made that decision I knew that he just said you know what I love everybody else but I'm a man like like when I became proud of him the most like all the best water that was gonna happen all the points on it is when he he started coming out in the media that's not him like know that is him if you know like it's just he know who he is now you know and we made it that decision it was like bro like his destiny is his own like no matter what he do from here on out no matter what they say or how they say it man he's his own and that decision right there just proved to me anyway no I remember when uh when the decision was made and the backlash that came from it but you know he talked about pressure there was a lot of pressure like you got to win now yeah yeah you can't you can't slow this boat down but my thing was like man I always go back to those teams he was like that was a best time of my life I had it was carefree it was you had to worry about nothing but just playing I had we had good people around us you know I'm saying it was like you want to search for that and it's hard to do that in the real world because obviously we got more responsibilities as we get older and you learn more you experience more so you kind of see things for what they are back then we were just we had that I want that kid like filling again for the game and I wanted to I wanted to his plan try to duplicate that you know I'm saying I was like man this is the perfect spot for me to play like we played with the Jaguars like I always thought about us every single day as I was going through it and it happens you like first and going through that whole thing I was just like I need that feeling again that's me so so so Mike where you at right now in your life I thought you made some changes professionally you look at the numbers man you're having a second you have the second best mark in your career points per game wise per 36 you're putting up the numbers shooting the 40% from 350 percent from the field about 13 points a game you still get buckets where are you at right now and in your career professionally when it's changed hungry grateful but not satisfied I like I can score but that's not like my main focus I want the opportunity I want someone of coach organization to believe in me to the point where I could win games and because my thing is I don't want to just school I want to make I want to make players better then I didn't even know that about myself and so I went to China or the first time that's right you know it became fun to see my teammates reactions things that they didn't mean you think they can do you know and like to me that's like that's like the fun of it when we all play in the right way when we all make in the right pants because my philosophy like if I was a coach I will force everybody to make the right pass every time because at the end of the day your percentage is gonna play out you know you're a good shooter you a good shooter at the end of the day you might miss 20 in a row but if you look at the end of the season you went 42% because you know and it's the right path the right shot is - it's the right or an atmosphere for a team you know and I've always wanted to you know beat a guy like Katie the blind type to bring that over in that atmosphere and then you know those type of way into the city you know so I'm still at a place to to where I'm hungry I still work every day like I got our gym schedule like when I leave here like you know hold on this this one it's 10:30 at night yeah and contrary to beliefs man like I worked so hard on on my game and like like my style like like mellow just said something recently all the mid ranges of laws are here i 100% agree you know it's it's literally just like kids don't even know the triple threat anymore yeah you know so fundamentals well I made my career man like I still got a lot in the tank I still got a lot a lot of years to play man and I want to play at the level of championship and styling my team you know have fun doing it because that's that's that's fun basketball you guys ever talk about like coming full circle and playing together yeah oh but we basketball up yrs man I'm saying I really pierced playing white we're here you just want to play the right way and you enjoy playing the right way and everybody have fun that's cuz meets because that was our only sorry that's the only way we can get away from what was going on at home and I have enough positive all the time mom because she come home yeah the same so it was like right that's the only way we can get away from the I had no friends at school it was a holy source of fun for it I supposed to play basketball I had played the right way long and play with your friends you know I'm saying so that's that's what we get it from and a lot of people don't understand that because they just know as soon as we get to the NBA moving we get to college that's all I see that's all they see but like they don't know the context is like why we want to play ball so much and why we enjoy it and why you just want it you want to please your teammates you want to learn from your coaches yeah and you want to just have a good time because it's like that wasn't laugh we got we got short amount of time left to play balls honors when it comes to compared to you know the rest of our lives but so we want to enjoy it for as long as we can but you speak about love of the game I got a I got a segue into this real quick where all the things going on the n-c-double-a coaches getting done I see how you made some comments about you know for free country country and ain't this well what are you up to what do you think about what's going down double-a and some of these and these coaches look like they're about to go down first off hey guys stop publicizing humming with money we make an NBA player because I Drive and he's parents everybody here is crazy crazy so now I said oh such as such as made 200 million on a five-year deal which would think these parents now I'm talking about they're not even worrying about the game and I was like oh yeah you need to go make that we're back in the day I didn't know it when none of these dudes was making I was just trying to I just want to beat him I just wanted to be like that when a basketball court so that's one thing in my opinion obviously it's not gonna happen but that's I think that's the one of the reasons why going crazy around here with the cash giving the power to the to a bunch of kids like 18 19 years old these kids get to dictate but if they they running these shoe companies they running these coaches they get like blinking foot I kick him like not good ain't got enough money for me well when you put that much power into a kid's hands for one and you manipulating them and playing with them cuz they cuz you got more money didn't know that's messed up that's messed up to me but at the same time like these kids out here slaving for your programs and making them bringing in a lot of money to these schools and I was we was had 300 all the scholarship checks from the school $300 a month when I was at Texas you know I'm saying that's what I don't know what it is like all no it was like right now but it can't be much more yeah you struggling on college yeah you struggling so what else you gonna do as a kid did this and you know your power simple yeah now you I mean you can you can easily just say pay the kids or or whatever you know but you got to put yourself in each each individual foot shoes you know because if some kids out there that like if somebody woulda came to me at 14 13 and off of me this that whatever me like not not like take my mother out of it take take take my family out of it take everybody you know like me as a kid like it's I've never seen $20 I'm blaming her grown up you know so like like he said at first it's your upbringing you know it's it's it's it's a dignity thing it's a it's a it's a power you want power we want to feel like you got some power over somebody and that's how it is yeah and it's sad man because in most cases these kids don't know what's going on like a lot of these kids is just just playing and their parents are taking advantage of them you know you know do I think that college players should be compensated for the money not just basketball or football also the money that that they generate the NCAA yes but on how to do it I don't have that yeah it's tough it's tough to say house I would say cuz it's like you know death at that age kids I mean you know my kids to pick of school because yeah you don't know which players to give way to like but they bring has so much money like people want to see the tournament people want to see the college football Final Four like that is huge like work and they out there with nothing like they can't you gotta wait til I get Bey become professionals like come one one thing I used to get mad at when I was at Kansas State I was a freshman so all the freshmen parking lots was I caught a mile away from where you're going so we used to pull up to the games mind you Kansas good freezing cold my you'll wake up one day and it'd be an ice storm and like your turn your turn your car and it's clear so you'll pull up to the gym and you're like I just used to think to myself like everybody here parked to come see me play you I'm walking a half a mile it's cold you know workout was playing like that's just backwards oh you know what that's that's just how it is man like the players always get the short end of the stick and it's always the players fall to play a sport like nobody else has ever held accountable yeah and I got I gotta ask you guys were the biggest the biggest names in college that's your time do anybody ever come off of you guys I know about they do I'm sure they did yeah so somebody try to thank with sombreros yeah you had gotta be you got to be honest at the end of the day but his mom and my momma exactly a light fight yeah they were waiting cuz in the neighborhood you know you don't want to owe nobody nothing fights and that's you know that's always been our mind yeah and that's on top of that like we could have waited another year you know I'm saying like you know yeah we we've been living like this for a minute I was I was I remember one time it hit me we had played Tennessee we lost the game but I I play well I like 30 and I'm going home for Christmas break for two days we had two days you can we could let we could leave we loved I'm talking about like at this time I'm like in my freshman year I'm scoring 30s I'm people know who I am like in the basketball world and it hit me I went home and I'm like you know we were living at Pennbrook Terrace like we had no dorm I only have a doorman my brother at this time 69 my brother's sick Center we stand in the same room like business two beds in one room my mom's room right next door I'm walking in the house an apartment I'm like like I'm still here but I'm turning on ESPN and I'm right there you know I'm saying some boy it's a it's a you know life come at you real fast you know I'm saying then you go back home and you see like see how you living in this lake and I need to get up out of here you know I'm saying that but I knew if I could do it all that time I can wait another year wait after all months I was worried about somebody saying look you got to pick me this back I did this for you I did that for you I was like I'm not trying to have that especially around our neighborhood anyone had no dudes around away like you know remember I did this for you I might have picked me up and dropped me off at the bus stop with my arm of a house but other yeah like that's something you're supposed to do as a good person like you said earlier we are you staying it's the old like we playing for the right reasons like we never play I mean of course the goal is always to get rich but we never play yeah hey we never played to like foot of money and like we literally just play it like you said we just learn to have fun and that's like what's in our blood you know do you think about parents and agents are getting a lot of flack for their role in all this and this it's bigger than that let me see if I was an agent and I can get to a kid at 15 years old and I can you know build the relationship that early I would do it - yeah that's just a part of the job you know I'm saying it's just like all right I want this but if I wait too long I might miss out on this kid I might you know if I was an agent you gotta look at everybody saw it like obviously you know some stuff is not done the right way but if you you know I mean if you got an opportunity to kind of deal with a kid or try to get close to them or just try to build that relationship at an early age like you know why not some of these do is try to dangle money over top of it instead of really trying to build some Katie also some this were a la I don't know people awareness but you guys know but you've got parents who went when it's time to pick an agent yeah yeah there's a bidding war just to get a meeting yeah that's crazy come on a hundred thousand dollar bidding war just to get a meeting that's not secured that's not secured the players and so that's that's coming from a lot of parents a lot of family members so that's that's not talked about a lot but those those are the same parents that like give up control of their kids decisions it's gonna come a point in time like these kids 17 18 that may be happening and when it comes to that like you said there's gonna be a point in time where your son just gonna say I'm done with all y'all yeah that's gonna be at a time when he flourishes you know cuz all the BS is gonna be out the picture and you're gonna realize his worth his when it comes to this because we in a gym you know I'm saying we put Network in like yeah this is our skill this is not plate I was trying to tell these kids now if I meet you know it's like this is what you're doing your mom's and all them they they got your best interest they think they do but at the end of the day you were putting in that work so keep it there always worry about that work all that other stuff building your brand trying to you know market yourself at that eight like why you even worried about that all that come we're putting it come with putting their work so it's like it's gonna come a time now these parents want to do that control every single thing and make this about the business at that young of a just gonna come a time where these kids gonna wake up and realize what you're doing and it's gonna put a strain horse on your relations it's too late exactly that's that's the worst part of it all and we'll part what kind of parent don't want it this one is not going to talk today son like that's that's type of stuff I'm talking about it's gonna get deeper than a little basketball a little basketball business it's gonna get like a relationship yeah there's gonna be a relationship that's gonna be brother so if you're willing to do that over a couple dollars then yeah short decision yeah so thanks to constantly yeah yeah no I wanna appreciate appreciate y'all for doing this is real cool it's all okay T so I'll tell you even though I'm in his town [Laughter]

Channel: ESPN

Views: 628,970

Keywords: espn, espn live, kevin durant, kevin, durant, michael beasley, memory lane, exclusive, interview, exclusive interview, full interview, kevin durant full interview, michael beasley interview, nba interview, chris haynes, kevin durant trade, kevin durant shoes, michael beasley 2018, nba, basketball, kevin durant ncaa, knicks, warriors, golden state warriors, new york knicks, kevin durant michael beasley, childhood friends

Id: pxRV0hZbA7M

Length: 59min 52sec (3592 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 08 2018