Kevin Durant invites Nets teammate Kyrie Irving as first guest on new podcast 'The ETCs'

Kevin Durant, who is turning 32 on September 29, celebrated his birthday by starting his own podcast – ETCs with Kevin Durant. Brooklyn Nets star surprised fans by calling his teammate Kyrie Irving as his guest. y both discussed multiple topics during hour-long conversation, including process behind m deciding to team up by signing with Nets.  

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Kevin Durant birthday kicks off with his new podcast

While Durant is yet to make his debut with team, this is first time two NBA stars have teamed up for a proper interview. Durant and Irving started podcast by talking about roots of ir friendship, which dates back to 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and ir time with  Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in 2011-12. According to Durant, y were both introduced by a common friend called Jeff Rogers, who worked at Nike. 

ir friendship only strengned with time, where both of m decided to team up last year. y cleared up mysterious video of ir conversation at  Spectrum Center during All-Star Weekend. “That’s when it was solidified that we were going somewhere,” said Durant. two-time NBA champion added that while thing was confirmed yet, y were definitely going somewhere. 

Durant detailed that over time, ir friendship grew to a point where y would talk about what would happen outside game, ir families. "It just became easy, you kw?" Durant added, while speaking about how y have similar playing styles, which is where it branched off from. ir friendship, as per Durant, was organic. duo apparently talked every day on FaceTime, discussing shots and having a daily conversation. 

Also read | Kevin Durant refuses to "shut up" after Knicks fans, media bored him a whole year

Kyrie Irving also spoke about his bond with late NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who lost his life this January. He spoke about how, during London Olympics, he was nervous about talking to Bryant. Back n, a young 20-year-old Irving challenged a 33-year-old to a one-on-one, claiming he could beat Los Angeles Lakers legend. "I’m going to go straight up like Kobe, man. Like I could beat you one-on-one,” said Irving. 

Irving explained that he went off-script and  Duke Blue Planet captured ir exchange. "We never got a chance to play, but after that point, I just studied him a lot more. My respect grew," Irving explained, adding that only reason did t strap up to play was because he already had some respect for Irving. 28-year-old also discussed how he feels misrepresented by media. 

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Both stars also discussed ir plans with Nets for 2020-21 season. Irving said that he wants to bring an NBA title to his family in Brooklyn, after which y can have "biggest parade ever". While Durant's Achilles injury sidelined him for whole year, Irving's injury also forced him to sit out majority of games. Both Durant and Irving will continue ir conversation on ETCs with Kevin Durant on next Tuesday (Wednesday IST). 

Also read | Brooklyn Nets: How Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving decided to join Nets over Knicks

(Im credits: AP)