Kevin Durant Has Finally Come Around On Slim Reaper: ‘I Love That Nickname’

The best nicknames in sports have always started naturally, with someone else — a coach, another player, fans, or an announcer — bestowing it on a player, but for it to really take off the player has to embrace it for themselves.

On this year’s USA men’s basketball squad for the Olympics, there are some great examples of that, from King James to Chef Curry to The Brow. However, there is one nickname that’s better than all of those, but never really took off because it never got the embrace from the player. Early on in his career, Kevin Durant earned the moniker “the Slim Reaper”, which is an objectively sick nickname, but for whatever reason he pushed it away. However, the 35-year-old former MVP has had a change of heart and is now ready to welcome being called the Slim Reaper, explaining in a social video asking Team USA players for the best nickname on the team that he didn’t think he’d earned it early in his career.

Maybe he didn’t think he could be the Slim Reaper until he won championships, but it’s a bit of a shame that didn’t stick sooner with Durant. It’s probably too late in his career for it to latch on completely, but it’s good to know he’s seen the light. As for the rest of the video, I do like how everyone shoots down their teammates when they try to stump for themselves, whether it’s The Brow, The Process, or Book (which Tyrese Haliburton questions if that even counts). The most answers were for Slim Reaper, King James, and Chef Curry, but the funniest one was Bamonte, bestowed on Adebayo by JaVale McGee back in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics in a hilarious video.