Kevin Durant was against implementing any FIBA rules in the NBA and argued with a fan on X over it.
Team USA made its debut in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games by handily winning against Serbia. What caught the attention of many fans both throughout the team's exhibition games and the Olympics was the different style of play that FIBA rules dictate. Kevin Durant even got into an argument over it with a fan.
Kevin Durant
| Team: |
Phoenix Suns USA |
| Position: | PF |
| Age: | 35 |
| Height: | 211 cm |
| Weight: | 109 kg |
| Birth place: | Washington, United States of America |
FIBA rules differ in multiple ways from NBA rules, from playing time, court size, and the number of fouls to different ways of how assists are calculated, goaltending, coach challenges, and more. You can read all the differences here.
Fans have noticed an increased physicality in the game and less foul baiting, while the intensity of the basketball game itself remained at the same level.
After the game between the US and Serbia, a fan on X, formerly Twitter, suggested the NBA should implement some of the FIBA rules and see how it goes. Durant wasn't entirely happy with the suggestion.
"I swear y'all just be yappin," he wrote.
When the fan suggested the NBA could eliminate the defensive three-second rule, KD argued it would slow the games down.
The fan, who named himself Tyler Ralph on X, expressed the view that the elimination of a three-second rule would mean less isolation possessions and more team-oriented basketball on the court involving more sets and plays, Durant didn't budge.
"The beauty of basketball is not calling all them sets but playing off instincts and letting the talent dictate the game," Durant wrote. "Getting out in transition, driving and kicking, playing random basketball. You want to play every possession like it's football. That's not why our game is beautiful."
The short discussion ended after Durant wrote that players could set screens and make cuts randomly, while the fan argued that extraordinary levels of basketball IQ and talent are required for it to be a consistently effective way of basketball.
