EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — You can’t blame Kevin Durant if he wishes he had some college eligibility left right about now.
There’s no NBA basketball and Durant had to sit behind the Texas bench Saturday night and watch his Longhorns lose to Oregon State, 100-95 in overtime, in the Legends Classic at the Izod Center.
“Yeah, man, of course me being a competitor I always want to play,” Durant, who left Texas after one year and is a two-time NBA scoring champ, told SNY.tv.
“But those guys handled it well. It’s tough for us to lose that way.”
Texas lost Tristan Thompson, Jordan Hamilton and Cory Joseph to the NBA Draft last year, and now relies on six freshmen, including point guard Myck Kabongo, who starred for three years at St. Benedict’s Prep under Dan Hurley.
“It’s a learning experience, everything’s a learning experience, especially with a young team,” Durant said after signing autographs and posing for pictures with Kabongo and others.
“We have some great guys on this team that’s willing to learn and get better. You gotta go through this sometimes and I think it’s going to help us out.”
Without the NBA, Durant played in about 20 exhibition games this summer, including several in New York. He will reportedly play in a game in Houston on Sunday being organized by John Lucas and may also play in a Dec. 2 all-star game at the Nassau Coliseum.
Durant is also considering whether to play overseas in Germany, Israel or Spain.
“I’ve got to talk to my agent and my brother about the situation,” Durant told ESPN.com during the game. “We’ll see. I don’t know right now.”
