Kevin Durant on being an asshole, loyalty and more with GQ (Update)

Kevin Durant is an asshole. The man said it himself to GQ's Zach Baron, in a feature as the magazine's cover star for their March issue:

"When I'm on the court," he says, "I'm a total asshole. I'm a dick. I don't talk to the other team. If I fall on somebody, I throw them to the ground, I'm not helping them up. I just feel like it's a war mode. Like, they're trying to kill me, but I gotta kill them before they kill me."

The hot-button topic these days with Durant is his increasingly aggravative persona. Last weekend, he had harsh words for the media, telling reporters "they didn't know [expletive]," the latest in a growing line of similarly outspoken incidents. In the GQ feature, Durant once again reveals his mean streak.

Other topics touched on include the James Harden trade and his own impending free agency. Durant discussed his teammates, while also talking about his own loyalties with his contract up next summer.

"You gotta do your job, and you gotta trust that the front office is going to do their job. It's hard, though. You know what I'm saying? Because it's like, shit, I want win. Obviously our players aren't as good as, you know, than they were before. But you have to figure it out."

"I was loyal. If it comes down to that, I mean: I was. My deal's up in 2016. I'll have been here nine years. I could have easily wanted out. I could have easily not signed the extension after my rookie contract. I could have not played as hard every night. But people tend to forget."

The GQ issues with Durant as its cover athlete hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles today, with issues available nationally on February 24th.

(Image via GQ)

Update – 2:51 PM CMT: In response to controversy about potentially slighting his teammates in the GQ feature, Durant had this to say in an interview with the Oklahoman:

Everybody talks about the James Harden trade to this day. Everybody else is asking about a player that's a 3-time All-Star, leading scorer in the league, so we can't do nothing about that. I never wanted to slight my teammates like I did, but just from the outside looking in, that's how people view us.