The Golden State Warriors star is currently the talk of the basketball world due to his expiring contract, and the uncertainty around where he will choose to play next.
Most believe that he is set to walk away from the South Bay Area and move to the Eastern Conference in order to sign with the New York Knicks – along with close friend Kyrie Irving who has the option to leave the Boston Celtics.
Durant has remained coy on the subject, but has blasted the media for their interest in the matter on several occasions.
He told NBC Sports Bay Area that if he wasn’t a free agent this summer, nobody would be talking about him.
“They need me, if I wasn’t a free agent, none of this s**t would go on, right?” he asked.
“None of this speculation about who I am, what’s wrong with my mental, why I’m miserable, why I ain’t happy with life. Nothing.”
Durant didn’t stop there when talking about the media, as he explained why using athlete-backed outlets is more beneficial at getting a story out than using a journalist and publisher.
The Warriors star launched Thirty Five Media in an attempt to get his own message across, and explained that he believes reporters are unhappy with the move towards athlete-backed media.
“I think a lot of media companies are sad about that,” Durant said.
“Which is causing a strain between the players and the media because obviously they all want to keep their jobs. They all want to tell their stories, but the players are telling it better.
“I’ve never been a traditional-way type of dude. I never did anything [the] traditional way in my life. I don’t even know what that means.
“That’s just a program that people before us kind of had a template on how they live life and expect us to do the same thing. I never really had a traditional way of anything.”
Speaking on Fox Sports’ Undisputed show, Bayless blasted Durant for constantly talking about his upcoming decision, and compared the star to golfing legend Tiger Woods.
“Kevin Durant has decided that he is to basketball what Tiger Woods is to golf,” he said. “Well, I’m sorry, but you’re not, Kevin.”
“If I hear one more time ‘why do you guys keep talking about my free agency?’ because you do!” Bayless exclaimed, slamming his fist on the desk.
“You’re obsessed with your free agency, you talk about it at every opportunity. I’m sick of it, I don’t want to hear any more about it.
“There will be bigger deals along the road, and there’s going to come a day when you are going to have to compete for that chair [chair of Undisputed co-host Shannon Sharpe], because you’re going to have to audition for that chair to stay close to the game that you love.
“You’re going to have to talk about younger players stories, it’s hard, man. Maybe Kevin isn’t cut out for this.
“Kevin keeps saying we need him, we don’t. We need LeBron James. LeBron James is much more interesting than you are, Kevin.
“I don’t know what it is about him, but there’s a forcefield that revolves around both of them [James and Woods].”