That’s the verdict of ESPN’s NBA expert Max Kellerman.
A video of Durant and Irving went viral this week after the two were filmed talking together in the tunnel over the All-Star weekend.
Both of the superstar duo can become free agents this coming offseason and have been tipped to link up on the east coast.
Durant has been coy amid suggestions he could leave the Golden State Warriors to join the Knicks and try and lead them to a first championship since 1971, but recently moved his company Thirty Five Ventures to a new building in New York City.
Irving has previously declared he will stay in Boston but has been less committal of late and it has been suggested the New Jersey native will leave the Celtics for his hometown team in the Knicks.
It is widely reported that New York, who boast the salary cap space to sign two marquee free agents, are keen to land both of the pair.
Yet Kellerman does not think Durant – also linked with the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers and Brooklyn Nets if he indeed leaves Golden State at all – could see himself winning a title with the Knicks.
“I don’t think it’s a sign they get together,” Kellerman told First Take on ESPN in reaction to the footage of the duo’s conversation.
“We all know they’re free agents, they like each other, they want to play together. But it would not be in a place like the New York Knicks.
“I don’t believe that KD has it in him to start from scratch with a guy like Kyrie trying to win championships.
“I think if Kristaps Porzingis was still there, they had the cap space to get someone else plus Kyrie and they had a great coach and it was a good organisation and KD felt the odds were stacked in his favour where he couldn’t not win a championship then he would go to a place like the Knicks and face that pressure.
“I don’t think, just starting with Kyrie, he’s going to look at the Warriors and think, ‘Yep, we can win championships here and I can prove my point.’ That’s the issue with KD, he wants to go and prove a point.
“I don’t read into him and Kyrie having a laugh in the hallway.
“If in L.A. you stink, they stop paying attention and go to the beach. In New York, if you stink they pay even more attention.
“There’s nothing like the media here in New York City and I think Kyrie could handle it. He wouldn’t love it but he would do it.
“I don’t think KD wants it, particularly if those two come together after they traded Porzingis. The expectations would be sky high.”
Celtics guard Irving responded angrily to suggestions his chat with Durant suggested the pair will be team-mates next season.
He declared: “Pour water on it? I’m a human being talking to another best friend of mine. It’s just crazy. This is the stuff that doesn’t make the league fun. Nobody helps promote the league even more by doing bull**** like that, of just fictitious putting things on what we’re talking about.
“It’s my life, right? It’s two people talking, having a conversation. If this was the real world would it be anybody else’s business?
“But it’s a video of somebody assuming what we’re talking about, right? Making an opinion about it. So why would I care about it? What I do with my life is my business.
“So it’s none of yours, its none of anybody’s. It’s not anybody else’s business. You do it for the likes and clicks. Everybody does. It makes no sense, it’s not real life.”