Kevin Durant blasted the media for making Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant look bad this season.
Just hours after Bryant announced that he will be retiring after the 2015-16 NBA season, Durant, who admitted that he idolizes the 20-year veteran, said that he is disappointed because the media highlighted the bad sides of Bryant's performance this season.
"He's a legend, and all I hear is about how bad he's playing, how bad he's shooting and it's time for him to hang it up," Durant told reporters. "I didn't really like it. So hopefully now you can start being nice to him now that he decided to retire after this year."
Bryant has been a shadow of his old self this season -- a far cry from the player who scored 81 points in one game in 2006. The 37-year-old superstar is averaging 15.5 points and is just shooting 30.5 percent from the field this season, including a measly 20.2 percent from the three-point region.
During the Golden State Warriors' historic win against the Lakers last week, Bryant had a share of the spotlight -- in a negative way -- after he finished with just four points on 1-for-14 clip from the field, which was one of the worst shooting nights of his career.
"You did say he was the 93rd-best player in the league, you did have the Lakers as the worst team in the West, but it seems like everybody is happy that he's going out like this," Durant told ESPN. "Every game he's played on TV is about how terrible he looks, every article the next day is about how he should retire."
Now that Bryant has announced his plan to call it quits after the current season, Durant is hoping that the media will now focus on giving tribute to the 17-time All-Star's long list of accolades -- similar to what MLB reporters did during Derek Jeter's final season with the New York Yankees and what reporters will do when Tim Duncan decides to retire.
Durant, who played alongside Bryant with the USA Basketball team during the 2012 London Olympics, also thanked the five-time champion for what he did for the game and added that he will continue to seek advice from "Black Mamba" moving forward.
"Means so much to the game of basketball," Durant said of Bryant. "Somebody I'm always going to look to for advice, for help, anything. Just a brilliant, brilliant, intelligent man. Sad to see him go. But he put his mark on the game while he was here."
Just hours after Bryant announced that he will be retiring after the 2015-16 NBA season, Durant, who admitted that he idolizes the 20-year veteran, said that he disappointed because the media highlighted the bad sides of Bryant's performance this season.
"He's a legend, and all I hear is about how bad he's playing, how bad he's shooting and it's time for him to hang it up," Durant told reporters. "I didn't really like it. So hopefully now you can start being nice to him now that he decided to retire after this year."
Bryant has been a shadow of his old self this season a far cry from the player who scored 81 points in one game in 2006. The 37-year-old superstar is averaging 15.5 points and is just shooting 30.5 percent from the field this season, including a measly 20.2 percent from the three-point region.
During the Golden State Warriors' historic win against the Lakers last week, Bryant had a share of the spotlight after he finished with just four points on 1-for-14 clip from the field, which was one of the worst shooting nights of his career.
"You did say he was the 93rd-best player in the league, you did have the Lakers as the worst team in the West, but it seems like everybody is happy that he's going out like this," Durant told ESPN. "Every game he's played on TV is about how terrible he looks, every article the next day is about how he should retire."
Now that Bryant has announced his plan to call it quits after the current season, Durant is hoping that the media will now focus on giving tribute to the 17-time All-Star's long list of accolades similar to what MLB reporters did during Derek Jeter's final season with the New York Yankees and what reporters will do when Tim Duncan decides to retire.
Durant, who played alongside Bryant with the USA Basketball team during the 2012 London Olympics, also thanked the five-time champion for what he did for the game and added that he will continue to seek advice from "Black Mamba" moving forward.
"Means so much to the game of basketball," Durant said of Bryant. "Somebody I'm always going to look to for advice, for help, anything. Just a brilliant, brilliant, intelligent man. Sad to see him go. But he put his mark on the game while he was here."
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