Suns' Kevin Durant Says NBA Players Have 'Appropriate Fear' for Opponents

Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant thinks NBA players understand the mindset they need to have to play against the biggest stars in the sport.

On the latest episode of The ETCs (starts at 11:45 mark), Durant explained the "appropriate fear" that's required to play in the NBA:

"There's an appropriate fear that you have for your opponents, knowing that if you aren't locked in, this is the NBA. We're all great players. Somebody can go off and kill you tonight. Let me lock in and be ready. That's the type of fear that I'm thinking about.

"When you're going against the best players, you know, the Michael Jordans, the LeBron James, of course you feel, you know that you're getting in some s--t tonight. But if you're locked in and ready for it and you're prepared for it, I won't say you're scared. But you know it can go either way, so you just got your head on a swivel. But I wouldn't say anybody is, like, fearful of the challenge, don't want to play, ducking guys for the night, call in with an injury. That type of stuff I don't see much of."

Host Eddie Gonzalez brought up the subject of fear and being scared, in part, as a response to Mario Chalmers' comments about LeBron James.

Chalmers, who played with James on the Miami Heat for four seasons from 2010-11 to 2013-14, caused a stir two weeks ago when he told Playmaker HQ that "nobody fears Bron" in the same way that teams used to when playing against Michael Jordan.

As the firestorm around those comments grew, Chalmers clarified what he meant while speaking to Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bally Sports (h/t NBA Central):

"Going more into depth of my statement, you come into a Finals situation, are you more fearful to face LeBron James or Michael Jordan? MJ is 6-0 in the Finals and LeBron has four rings. When I say players didn't fear LeBron, LeBron has been beaten, MJ has not. When LeBron first came to the Heat, people saw him as a villain. But when you line up next to him, you're actually fearful of him because he's trying to prove people wrong."

The concept of "fear" in sports is interesting. It's not like players will literally be shaking if they are looking at Durant, James or any other dominant superstar who can take over a game at any moment.

Durant's comments are probably more referencing things coaches are emphasizing as part of the game plan.

Everyone knows James is going to run the offense for the Los Angeles Lakers or Durant is going to take 15 to 20 shots per game, but it's about what the opposing team is doing to at least keep some semblance of control in order to slow them down.

The best coaches and teams are the ones capable of figuring out an answer that's good enough to give them a shot at winning.