Kevin Durant’s first NBA championship, quite understandably, did not fill LeBron James’ heart with joy.
KD’s title, after all, came at LeBron’s expense.
LeBron James keeping it real when asked if part of him is happy for Kevin Durant: "I'm not happy he won his first. I'm not happy at all."
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 13, 2017
James won his first championship back in 2012 against, yes, Kevin Durant.
Per Cleveland.com:
Q: It was mentioned before that Kevin Durant lost his first NBA Finals when you won your first NBA Finals. Kind of fast forwarding to right now, how is he a different player and a different person since you do know him personally, and even though you’re — obviously you’re upset because you lost, how do you feel about him winning that first championship?
James: “Well, I’m not happy he won his first. I’m not happy at all. But at the end of the day from when I played him in the 2012 Finals to now, like I said, experience is the best teacher in life, and he’s just experiencing and experiencing and experiencing. And it also helps when you are able to experience some things with this team as well. He felt like he needed to reassemble and reassess his career and come here.
“So like I said, having — getting that first championship for me was like having my first son. It was just a proud moment, something that you never, ever forget. And at the end of the day, nobody can — no matter what anybody says from now on in your career or whatever they say, they can never take away from you being a champion. That’s something that they are always going to speak about, about you. It may be like the last thing they may say, but they are always going to have to say that you’re a champion.
“Like I said, when you put in the work and things pay off, then you can always be okay with whatever else that happens in your career.”
