Remember When Everyone Freaked Out After Kevin Durant Struggled to Lift Weights at the NBA Combine?

Kevin Durant is calling for NBA Draft prospects to skip the NBA Combine. He infamously struggled to bench press 185 pounds during the 2007 combine.

Photo Removed
Complex Original

Blank pixel used during image takedowns

Photo Removed

The 2017 NBA Combine is already underway in Chicago this week. So it’s probably too late for any players that are there to cancel their plans to take part in the combine drills this year. But Kevin Durant—who took part in the NBA Combine back in 2007 before being drafted No. 2 overall by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA Draft—has some advice for future players thinking about attending the combine: "Stay your ass home, work out, and get better on your own time."

Durant was asked about his combine experience after the Warriors practiced on Wednesday afternoon, and he let it be known that he is not a fan of the combine and everything that comes along with it. Almost exactly 10 years ago, Durant infamously struggled with the bench press portion of the combine. Durant was asked to see how many times he could bench press 185 pounds, and he struggled to do it even once. He said that it led to an embarrassing moment for him that featured several strength trainers in attendance laughing at him.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," he said on Wednesday. "All the strength coaches were laughing at me and shit. They were giggling with each other that I couldn’t lift 185 pounds, and I was like, 'All right, keep laughing. Keep laughing.' It was a funny thing, because I was the only one that couldn’t lift it, and I was struggling to lift it. I was embarrassed at that point, but I’m like, 'Give me a basketball, please. Give me a ball.'"

Durant may remember the 2007 combine like it was yesterday, but we realize that not everyone out there remembers it clearly as he does. We also realize that many NBA fans might not remember the circumstances surrounding Durant’s performance at the combine. So let’s take a look back at what went down during it to see how it became one of the defining moments of Durant’s early NBA career…

Durant’s Draft Stock Heading Into the NBA Combine

Kevin Durant at Texas.

Prior to entering the 2007 NBA Draft, Durant spent one season playing college basketball at the University of Texas. He averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists at Texas, according to Sports-Reference, and while the Longhorns lost in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament to USC (fun fact: Nick Young averaged 17.5 points for the Trojans that season), Durant was still widely regarded as one of the best draft prospects in the country that spring.

ESPN draft expert Chad Ford referred to Durant as "the most decorated NCAA freshman ever" and said he was "the most complete prospect to hit the draft since LeBron James." There was some debate over whether or not he would go No. 1 overall—Ford suggested Ohio State center Greg Oden would be a better selection with the top pick—but Durant was set up to be, at worst, the second overall pick in the draft and a slam dunk of a selection.

Durant’s Performance at the NBA Combine

Kevin Durant plays in a game at Texas.

In 2017, a player like Durant would probably opt not to participate in the NBA Combine. Several projected lottery picks, including Lonzo Ball, Josh Jackson, Jayson Tatum, and Malik Monk, decided not to attend the combine this year, and it’s not all that uncommon for the best players in the country to skip it these days. But as Durant pointed out on Wednesday, draft prospects were expected to participate in the combine back in 2007.

"The first to the last pick was there," he said on Wednesday. "It was just a part of the process."

At the combine, there were some things that immediately stood out to the NBA scouts in attendance. Durant’s 7-foot-5 wingspan, for example, was second-best among all prospects. But according to a Seattle Times report released about a week after the draft, Durant’s overall combine performance ranked 78th out of the 80 players who were in attendance.

Durant’s vertical jump was 33.5 inches, a half-inch less than Oden’s vertical. He completed the agility drill in 12.33 seconds, which was slower than Oden who completed it in 11.67 seconds. And it took him 3.45 seconds to finish a three-quarter-court sprint, which was, again, slower than Oden who finished it in 3.27 seconds.

And of course, there was the dreaded bench press. Durant had, as ESPN.com described in their article on Durant’s most recent combine comments, a "thin, wiry frame" back in 2007. So it wasn’t a complete surprise to see him struggle to bench press. But he was the only draft prospect to fail to do a single 185-pound rep at the combine in 2007.

Durant is now on a short list of players that also failed to do a single rep on the bench press at the NBA Combine. That lists includes players like Jamal Crawford (2000 NBA Combine), T.J. Ford (2003 NBA Combine), Luke Ridnour (2003 NBA Combine), and Monta Ellis (2005 NBA Combine). But Durant is often cited as the most prominent example of a prospect failing to bench press one rep at the combine.

How NBA Teams Reacted to Durant’s Performance at the NBA Combine

Kevin Durant puts his head down during a game at Texas.

Durant’s combine performance was underwhelming, to say the least, and many publications were quick to point out that Durant may have hurt his draft stock by taking part in the combine. Websites like NBAdraft.net didn’t pull any punches when they described Durant’s combine performance.

"Showing off his long arms was about the only positive Kevin Durant can take from this combine," they wrote.

Many NBA message boards were also filled with speculation surrounding Durant’s future in the NBA following his showing at the combine. But fortunately for Durant, most NBA teams didn’t freak out as much as NBA fans did.

Following the combine, the Seattle Times reached out to the Sonics and learned that they were "not dissuaded by Durant’s workout." Coincidentally, former Sonics lottery pick Robert Swift also struggled with the bench press portion of the combine in 2004, and he ended up transforming himself into one of the strongest players on the Sonics within just a few years (in hindsight, the Sonics probably regret making a Durant/Swift comparison). So the Sonics weren’t all that worried about Durant not being able to bench press 185 pounds.

How Durant Reacted to His Performance at the NBA Combine

Kevin Durant answers questions before the 2007 NBA Draft.

Rick Barnes, Durant’s coach at Texas, was very vocal about the criticism Durant received following the combine.

"If people question his strength, they’re stupid," Barnes said. "If they are looking for weightlifters to come out of Texas, that’s not what we’re producing. There are a lot of guys who can bench press 300 pounds in the NBA who couldn’t play dead in a cowboy movie. Kevin’s the best player in the draft—period—at any position."

But during Durant’s first few years in the NBA, he seemed to laugh off the criticism he faced after failing to bench press 185 pounds. In 2010, he actually created this video that poked fun at his inability to lift heavy weights:

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

But while speaking with reporters on Wednesday, he admitted that he didn’t handle the criticism well. It bothered him more than he may have led people to believe at the time.

"My body type is not the one to get yoked up and cut up," he said. "I knew that. My mom told me that, too. I was feeling down about it, because everybody needed something to say about me. So my mom was like, 'That’s not who you are. You’re never going to be Alonzo Mourning, that type of build.' I always wanted to be a basketball player. I didn’t want to be a weightlifter. I knew how important your body was."

And the fact that Durant is now so against the NBA Combine suggests that he still hasn’t fully recovered from what happened when he attended it.

Why Durant’s NBA Combine Performance Didn’t Really Matter

Kevin Durant is drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics.

Much was made about Durant’s inability to bench press 185 pounds at the 2007 NBA Combine, but obviously, it didn’t end up having much of an effect on his draft stock. In the end, the Sonics still decided to select him with the No. 2 pick in the draft, which they clearly would would have done regardless of how many times Durant bench pressed 185 pounds.

Meanwhile, Russell Carter, a shooting guard from Notre Dame, managed to bench press 185 pounds 25 times at the 2007 NBA Combine, more than any other player that year. And Carter, who is currently playing for Niigata Albirex BB in Japan, wasn’t selected in the 2007 NBA Draft and never played in an NBA game. So that probably tells you all you need to know about the importance of the bench press drill at the NBA Combine.

Latest in Sports