Kevin Durant, passed over for an opportunity to play pickup basketball with President Barack Obama earlier this year, got his own chance to shoot hoops with the president a month later, The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City reported Sunday.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star was not invited to an Aug. 8 shootaround at Fort McNair, in which NBA stars including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul played basketball with Obama for a crowd of soldiers wounded in combat.
Some felt Durant, a 2010 first-team All-NBA selection and the league's defending scoring champion, had been unfairly overlooked. But no such sentiment came from Durant, who said on his Twitter account that there's "always next year."
He barely had to wait a month.
According to the report, Durant's agents, brothers Aaron and Eric Goodwin, made a connection with Reggie Love, Obama's special assistant and personal aide, to get Durant an exclusive invitation to shoot hoops with the president. The visit occurred on Sept. 18, and Durant did not publicize the event, according to the report.
"It was a good feeling to meet the president," Durant said, according to The Oklahoman. "Of course I always wanted to do that. Me being from D.C., it was pretty cool to see him. I was excited to get that opportunity. It's something I'm always going to remember."
Durant didn't hog his face time with Obama for himself. He invited his mother and his grandmother and Thunder teammates Eric Maynor and James Harden, according to the report.
"She's been in D.C. for 60 years and never got to meet the president," Durant said of bringing his grandmother to the White House, according to the report. "Now we have the first African-American president, and that felt good for me to give her that opportunity."