Kevin Durant Once ‘Mocked’ 6’4 Dwyane Wade For Being ‘Too Small’ To Guard Him In The 2012 Finals

In the 17 years since Kevin Durant has been part of the league, several elite defenders have tried and failed to prevent him from going on a scoring outburst. Dwyane Wade is one such name who got constantly scored on. During an interview for the NBA’s 75^th Anniversary Team, Wade recollected one particular battle when KD even mocked him after knocking down a tough bucket.

D-Wade was one of the players assigned to guard Durant during the 2012 NBA Finals. At one moment in Game 4 of the series, the Thunder star hit a mid-range shot despite being well-contested. Running back on the defensive end of the floor, KD whispered a few taunting words to his 6ft 4″ opponent, “You too small.”

“Even though KD got like 7 inches on me, I still was a good defender. I was athletic enough to be able to guard bigger guys… I remember one game in Miami, I guarded KD… He go up for the shot, I contested… Perfect contest. And he hits it and he runs down the court and very quietly says ‘you too small’. It hurt me in a way that I could do nothing but laugh,” Wade said.

Despite the impressive move, Wade got the final laugh. He recorded 25 points and 5 rebounds, helping LeBron James co-lead the Heat to a 104-98 win. However, this incident from the 2^nd quarter was one that he discussed during the postgame press conference.

“He (Durant) told me I was too small. I had to run down the court and say ‘what’d you say again’ and he said ‘you’re too small.’ He’s got seven inches on me, so, I played good defense but he’s a scorer and he made a good shot,” Wade lauded the Slim Reaper.

The Heat finished the series as the winners. But, Durant wreaked havoc during those five games by averaging 30.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game.

Over the years, KD’s “too small” gesture has become a patented trash-talk. The most iconic “too small” incident occurred in 2022 during the Knicks-Nets matchup. After knocking down a contested mid-range jumper, Durant was animated when mocking Evan Fournier for being small.

With the Durantula still in the prime of his prowess, fans of the Suns can expect him to pull off this gesture multiple times during the 2024-2025 season.