Kevin Durant Says Having Harden at 'My Mercy Is 1 of the Best Feelings' in Netflix Doc
Kevin Durant and James Harden are former teammates and close friends, but that doesn't mean they are going to miss an opportunity for some old fashioned trash talk.
Durant dished some of that trash talk out during an interview for season two of Netflix's Starting 5, which will be released Thursday.
"Looking at Harden guarding me, I know for sure I'm going to get a good shot up every time," Durant said in comments that were featured alongside highlights of one of their head-to-head meetings last season. "Knowing I got him at my mercy is one of the best feelings."
Durant is one of the best pure scorers in NBA history, and Harden is not exactly known for his defensive prowess. That the future Hall of Famer jumps at the chance to unleash his offensive moves against Harden comes as no surprise.
The overall comments were part of interviews with both of them in which they talked about their friendship and facing each other after so many years in the NBA.
Durant and Harden are two of the five players who will be featured in the new season alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton and Jaylen Brown. That Netflix followed Gilgeous-Alexander and Haliburton throughout the 2024-25 campaign was particularly notable since they faced each other in the NBA Finals.
SGA also took home the league MVP to go with his championship, while Haliburton led the Indiana Pacers on a memorable run through the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Their respective run to the NBA Finals will surely be a major plot point, but so will Harden and Durant remaining effective at this stage of their careers. The former was an All-Star and All-NBA Third Team selection in his age-35 season, while the latter was an All-Star in his age-36 campaign.
They are also at this point after playing alongside each other on the Oklahoma City Thunder for three years from 2009-12 and the Brooklyn Nets during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns.
While the time in Brooklyn was largely defined by missed opportunities and a failure to live up to expectations, the pair helped lead the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals early in their careers.
They will be battling each other for positioning in the Western Conference during the upcoming season with Durant on the Houston Rockets and Harden still on the Los Angeles Clippers, which means the head-to-head matchups could carry some extra weight.
If they do, Durant will surely be hunting a Harden matchup when he has the ball in his hands.
