Kevin Durant tells Lavar Ball that it is impossible to press in the NBA, much to LaVar Ball’s chagrin; says that Ball would be fired.
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KD has played under many coaches who had a variety of defensive schemes set in place to stop opposing point guards. None of those schemes involved applying a full court press on every single possession.
LaVar believes this should most definitely not be the case, and that point guards on offense need to be pressed every time they bring the ball up the court.
When making an appearance on Kevin Durant’s ‘the ETCs’ podcast, Ball and Durant had a heated debate whether pressing would work in the NBA.
Kevin Durant and LaVar Ball go back and forth over the viability of pressing
LaVar Ball started off by saying, “Hey, don’t let me be no coach in the NBA. Why? I’m gonna be the first sucker to press. Somebody’s gonna get tired and it ain’t gonna be us.”
Durant swiftly replies, “You can’t press in this league.” Ball fires back with, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” Durant said, “The athleticism is different up here.”
Ball didn’t back down as he said, “I don’t care. You could be the most athletic sucker in the world, if you ain’t got no wind, I’m gonna tear your a–.”
Durant’s rebuttal was, “That would never happen. If that happens, you would get fired within months.”
Kevin Durant on his ‘pressing’ debate with LaVar Ball: “You’re not pressing no point guard, no starting point guard in the league right now. I don’t believe thats happening”https://t.co/WfzuvFl34d
— Nets Nation (@NetsNationCP) December 18, 2020
This back and forth lasted for quite a while and neither could convince the other to hedge over to their side of the argument.
Pressing, also known as a full court press, is when the defense(usually a guard) starts defending the opposing team’s point guard from the inbounds.
This is usually done to merely irritate the offense. It doesn’t work in the NBA as league point guards are much too skilled to be hassled by a defender back-pedalling 80 feet. This also opens up the defense which will allow easy buckets in the paint.
