LAS VEGAS (AP) -Kevin Durant struggled again with his shot Friday night, this time with superstar LeBron James sitting courtside.
Durant missed his first six shots and finished 9-of-23 in the Seattle SuperSonics’ 85-74 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He was 13-of-16 from the free throw line, however, to finish with a summer league personal-best 32 points.
Mack Center crowd were there to get a glimpse of Durant, the second overall pick in last month’s draft. But the attention quickly turned to the seats when James and five friends arrived 10 minutes into the game.
Sitting across from Golden State’s bench, James was playful with the NBA hopefuls and even shouted instructions to a team of grade school players during a halftime exhibition.
James hosted the ESPY awards on Wednesday in Los Angeles and Durant missed Seattle’s game to attend the event. He said there was no added pressure with one of the league’s top players observing.
“That’s my man. He told me that he was coming,” Durant said. “He was just another person in the crowd.”
Durant is 18-of-59 in three games, but gained some momentum with a pair of steals that led to easy dunks. He also was able to create off the dribble, finding success when driving to the basket.
“Anything to get you going,” Durant said. “Every game I play, I try to get better and that is what I did tonight.”
Durant has been trying to find more than his shooting touch. He had his first assist of the league midway through the fourth quarter, a simple handoff to a teammate on an uncontested breakaway, and added three rebounds. He only had one rebound in each of his first two games.
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