NBA superstar Kevin Durant’s upcoming free agency has become a prominent point of conversation circulating in the world of professional basketball. Reporters are working on answering the question of what team he could end up with next, and they are going after this answer with a vigorous passion. So vigorous in fact that Durant had something of an outburst directed at the media.

Durant seems to have forgotten that interacting with the media is part of the game. The Warriors forward is known for being sensitive in his interactions with the media, and it’s time that he realizes he’s going to need find better ways to answer their questions rather than through childish lash-outs.

The media is there for one reason, and it’s to do their job, just like he is there to do his. Durant is in no position to criticize them for asking the questions that everyone wants answered.

Asking the hard questions is what they get paid to do, and although the middle of the season may not be the best time to ask questions about free agency, Durant should’ve been expecting them. This age has strangely grown into a time where it has become popular to criticize the media by using terms like “fake news” to place distrust on sources we once believed to be trustworthy..  

Durant, in a lot of ways, expresses the same concerns as President Trump, when confronted with these difficult questions from the media. He claims that the media twists his words and uses them against him in various publications, and although he may be right to an extent, this should not deter him from speaking the truth on his given situation.

He and Trump tend to turn the media into the enemy in an attempt to turn attention away from them and the media’s tough questions. A great deal of the time, Durant seems to try and flee from dealing with the media at all.

By doing this, he is not setting a good precedent for the young players that will soon follow in his footsteps. There is no way for Durant to successfully avoid the media, and as a professional player, he is going to be consistently in the limelight.

Media outlets will constantly try and gather important information from both what he says and doesn’t say. The media also serves as the highway that transports fan interest to superstar answers.

By Durant deciding not to speak, he is leaving the public in the dark and deterring the free flow of information that journalist seek to provide. He is also leaving his situation to all sorts of various interpretations, including the negative kind that he so desperately fears. Durant’s relationship with the media does not need to be as rocky as it is.

The best way for Durant to move forward with the media is to take his own advice and “grow up”.