Kevin Durant Explains Why He Responds to Fans, Says 'The Game Saved My Life'

Kevin Durant is one of the most active athletes on social media, frequently interacting with and responding to questions or comments from fans when he doesn't have to.

In the new Netflix docuseries Court of Gold about the 2024 Olympics, director Jake Rogal got Durant to open up about why he chooses to respond even when the questions are from someone without a large follower count.

During a conversation with Variety's Jordan Moreau, Rogal shed light on what Durant told him:

"The question I was asking him was about Twitter. After the first Serbia game, he was on Twitter responding to people who didn’t have a lot of followers. I was like, 'Dude, why are you spending your time doing that? Like, you’re a global superstar in Paris. Don’t you have better things to do?' His thing was, 'When I respond to them, I have 28 million followers, so people can see I’m making a point based on what this person is saying. It’s because I love basketball so much, and it means so much to me and it’s made me who I am.' Then he went into this emotional soliloquy about what basketball means to him, and he got himself emotional. It wasn’t an emotional question, but it hit him in a way that was emotional."

Durant allowed himself to be open and vulnerable on camera (starts at 1:10 mark), at one point saying "the game saved my life" by "buying me and my family out of a lot of bulls--t."

There are few athletes in any sport who seem to pay as much attention to what's being said online as Durant. Just over the weekend, he was clapping back at people who didn't like the NBA's new All-Star format.

Whatever the reasons for Durant to maintain such an active online presence, it has brought him closer to fans. Even if people disagree with what he's saying, it's refreshing at times to get an unfiltered take from a superstar.

Ultimately, based on the clip from the series, Durant seems incredibly grateful that he gets to play basketball for a living. It's allowed him a platform to share his insights in a way that can bring him closer to the fans who cheer for or against him.