Kevin Durant Bench Press: Suns’ Star’s Embarassing Combine Story, and How Much He Can Lift Now Despite Skinny Frame

Tonoy Sengupta | 02/05/2023
Kevin Durant Bench Press: Suns' Star's Embarassing Combine Story, and How Much He Can Lift Now Despite Skinny Frame

Today, Kevin Durant is one of the best players in the National Basketball Association and has unanimously been agreed upon as one of the greatest in the history of the league. However, it was once speculated that he wouldn’t even be a serviceable player. After the man’s arms and legs have always looked like elongated sticks. Many believed that his body didn’t have the strength to do much heavy lifting whatsoever. And as the NBA Draft combine ahead of the 2007 NBA draft revealed, the doubters weren’t wrong about his raw strength, culminating in a rather interesting story.

 

Kevin Durant couldn’t even bench press 200lbs when he entered the NBA

For those that use the more popular system here, 200 lbs equate to 90 kg. And well, what Kevin Durant tried, and couldn’t bench press was a lot lower than that. In the NBA Draft Combine, the now Suns star was asked to pick up 185lbs (a little less than 84 kgs) as per Bleacher Report, something he just couldn’t lift up.

What happened next, was absolutely everybody discounting him, with Colin Cowherd’s this take eventually becoming famous for capturing the popular opinion from that time perfectly. Take a look at the clip in Freezing Cold Takes’ tweet below.

Of course, after being discounted and ridiculed to such a high degree, all the hate had gotten to Durant’s ears. And years later, he posted this little statement in response to it on Twitter.

As per Bleacher Report, Kevin Durant says that he can now bench about 315 lbs (Almost 143 kgs). And while this sports news company had a hard time believing it to be the truth in their article, there is a video of the man doing so on YouTube, posted by PressCAPLOCK. Take a look at it below.

To be clear here, Kevin Durant is still a very slender man. However, if there is any lesson to learn here, it is that the man is far stronger than he looks.

Post Edited By: Tonoy Sengupta
Kevin Durant NBA NBA Draft Combine Phoenix Suns

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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