The Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant was the focal point of a YouTube livestream event Tuesday when he was interviewed by established YouTubers What’s Inside, First We Feast and Ryan ToysReview in virtual reality.
The VR experience could be seen on Cardboard, Daydream View and PSVR. Fans could watch the event on desktop and mobile from Durant’s YouTube page that has grown in popularity with more than 389,000 subscribers since its launch in April. His videos have generated nearly 11 million views.
The MVP of the NBA Finals, Durant reflected on the chasm between himself and the media, and how that brought him to YouTube in the first place.
“[The media] doesn’t let me create my own content, they don’t let me tell my own story, so how could they tell my story without talking to me?” Durant said. “That’s why I’m on YouTube: I get to tell my own story, told by me, the person who actually went to it. It’s hard for me to respect someone who criticizes if they’ve never even been on the stage before.”
The interviews took place from studios at The YouTube Space in Los Angeles.
“My experience on YouTube has been incredible and so has the feedback I’ve received from fans all around the world. Being able to give people an inside look at my life on and off the court, as well as push the envelope with never-before-done content is very important to me and the vision for my channel,” Durant said in a statement before the event. “As I continue to step up the level of content I deliver, and as I keep building my creative network the sky’s the limit for what my team and YouTube can do together. The YouTube Live experience is a perfect example of that evolution and I look forward to having some fun as well during this livestream.”
Durant started a YouTube channel in April to “show a different side of himself,” and has already uploaded 31 videos since then, including a full-length, 35 minute long documentary on his journey through his season as a Warrior and several live streams of his day-to-day activities. He has used YouTube as his medium of choice since April, deleting his Instagram and limiting his Twitter usage since then — sans a few notable replies to trolls here and there and links to his YouTube content.
On the livestream, Durant got scored on in one-on-one versus Lincoln, the elementary school-aged son in the father and son duo from What’s Inside, ate hot wings and talked hip hop with Sean Evans from First We Feast’s show Hot Ones, delved into his daily offseason routine with host sWooZie and conducted a baking soda and vinegar challenge with Ryan ToysReview.
On Sean Evans’ show, Durant dropped a few nuggets, naming Magic Johnson as the NBA player — both past and current — that he would most want to play with, LeBron James as the NBA player he would go to for a wine recommendation, Damian Lillard as his NBA rapper of choice, Russell Westbrook as the NBA player he’d go to for style tips (when asked, he said “one person I wouldn’t go to [for style tips] is Draymond [Green]. So let’s get that out the way first”), Kyrie Irving as his fiercest rival in NBA 2K, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour as the best video game besides 2K, Nick Collison as the NBA veteran he goes to most for advice, and his godfather as the first person he called after he won his championship in June.
Durant went on to probe into the notion that NBA 2K games aid in a basketball player’s game, an idea that Gordon Hayward claims to be true.
“It’s a real thing — the game is so real now,” Durant said. “It’s like watching film. The game is real now that it feels like you’re actually getting better.”
Durant quickly backtracked from that thought, however.
“But you’re probably not,” Durant added.