Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant wants to be labeled a small forward. He wants to be labeled a small forward so badly that he’s willing to lie about his height. Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal quoted Durant, who’s listed at 6-foot-9 but is actually 6-foot-11, discussing why he shorts himself those two inches.
“For me, when I’m talking to women, I’m 7 feet..In basketball circles, I’m 6-9.”
“But really, I’ve always thought it was cool to say I’m a 6-9 small forward…Really, that’s the prototypical size for a small forward. Anything taller than that, and they’ll start saying, ‘Ah, he’s a power forward.’ ”
Herring also detailed that players of past generations, including Bill Walton, claimed they were shorter than they actually were as a way of taking their opponent’s attention away from themselves.
In a complete vacuum, this makes sense. If opponents think that Kevin Durant is 6-foot-11, they might be a little more likely to put a 6-foot-11 player on him, thereby making it harder for him to shoot over whoever is guarding him.
Conversely, an opponent thinking of him as a small forward is likely to use a small forward to guard him, and Durant can shoot over nearly every small forward.
The problem is we don’t live in a vacuum. Every opponent knows how tall Kevin Durant is and they should know who he can shoot over and/or run past. If a coach or opposing player doesn’t know that, he should be fired or cut immediately, because he just hasn’t been paying attention.
So, while it’s a funny idea that makes some sense, it doesn’t quite add up knowing what we actually know about Kevin Durant, and really all players. Durant can claim whatever he wants, but it really doesn’t amount to anything more than a glorified superstition.