While most athletes tend to ignore online criticism for their mental peace, Kevin Durant never shies away from speaking his mind to silence the haters. Doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of the day or 3 AM, the community can expect a KD bomb to drop anytime. Sure enough, that also brings a lot of heat his way. Seeing KD get ridiculed regularly, his mother Wanda even demanded a change in the 2x Champion, “I personally would like him to be a little more open because I hate the narrative they have created around him.”

However, it doesn’t seem like KD is going to grant his mother’s wish anytime soon. During a live sit-down interview with Pacers’ legend Jalen Rose, KD was asked why it is important for him to respond to online trolls. He replied, “Yeah, the whole point of having social media is to interact with people, right? So, you follow me for a chance to maybe interact. So, it depends on how I feel, Imma interact, and if you troll, Imma troll back. Show love. Imma show love back.”

Moreover, he does not want the fans to see only one side of his outspoken personality, “I kind of try to reciprocate energy as much as possible to give people a, you know, more of an in-depth experience of who I am.” Ever since Kevin Durant left OKC to join the Warriors eight years ago, he has turned into one of the biggest villains among fans. Because of that, he faces more online criticism than most big-name superstars in the league. So, KD learned how to use that criticism as motivation very early in his career.

When a fan asked him on X why he focuses more on his haters than his fans, he replied, “Hate drives me. Too much love will kill you.”

4 Olympic golds cannot keep Kevin Durant away from social media

Because of a busy Olympics schedule in the last few weeks, you would think that Durant would stay away from social media, at least for that period. However, that was not the case, as he constantly responded to his critics despite the focused pursuit to win Gold in Paris. After the Nikola Jokic-led Serbia took Team USA to the wire in the semi-final, many Nuggets fans deemed The Joker the best player and accused Durant and other Team USA stars of not liking him.

Sure enough, KD clapped back saying, “To all you Nuggets fans, nobody gives a f**k who yall lames believe is the best player in the league, players got major respect for Jok, we don’t worship him like yall do but most are in awe of his brilliance.”

Even after KD had Gold around his neck, he did not forget to troll German point guard Dennis Schroder by posting a picture with the medal captioned, “Entertainment & IQ.” Sure enough, the three-word message was a response to Schroder’s comments during the Olympics about European teams giving tough competition to the Dream Team 2.0, “European basketball is no entertainment, it’s straight IQ basketball, straight coaching. Really, really high IQ guys who know how to play the game.”

Although KD’s habit does turn a lot of heads, he might never stop speaking his mind because he feels it is important to do so. And sure, his receipt-keeping makes for some entertaining interactions. Do you agree?

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger