PHOENIX SUNS
Seattle kid Corbin Carroll makes new D-backs supporter Kevin Durant feel old
Apr 19, 2023, 11:05 AM | Updated: 11:08 am
Suns F Kevin Durant wears a Diamondbacks baseball hat after the Suns defeated the Clippers in Game 2 of their first-round series. (Kellan Olson/Arizona Sports)
(Kellan Olson/Arizona Sports)
Settled just more than two months in the desert, Kevin Durant even has an Arizona Diamondbacks game under his belt.
Before the Phoenix Suns star began his team’s playoff run, he took in an April 10 D-backs win against the Milwaukee Brewers wearing the jersey of Arizona rookie Corbin Carroll.
It was quite the moment for the 22-year-old Carroll, who the Diamondbacks believe will become a star in his own sport in due time. It wasn’t just that one of the best ever from another sport showed respect. Carroll, a Seattle-groomed prospect, remembers watching Durant’s rookie season in 2007-08 with the Seattle Supersonics before they moved to Oklahoma City.
Born in August 2000, Carroll was 7 years old that season.
Durant, a baseball fan himself, knew of Carroll before joining him in Arizona.
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“Just last year when he came up … he played a few games,” Durant said Tuesday after a Game 2 first-round playoff series win against the Los Angeles Clippers.
“You hear about these guys. Then to find out he was a Seattle kid, he said he watched me growing up, which made me feel old. Glad we’re in the same city doing our thing.”
Durant was asked about supporting the D-backs while wearing the team’s hat in his postgame press conference.
“Just try to support the hometown, local team. I know they support us so just try to show some love,” Durant said.
Carroll earned an eight-year, $111 million contract extension with just 32 games under his belt last season. Technically still a rookie, the speedy outfielder is batting .274 with a team-leading 32 total bases and four home runs as of Wednesday morning.
“He’s fastest in the league,” Durant said Tuesday. “They got a bright future out here.”
And the compliment probably means a bit to Carroll, just as it probably hit the outfielder a certain way when he learned just more than a week back that one of the NBA’s best players was watching him while wearing his jersey.
“It looks like KD is turning into a big Corbin Carroll fan,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said after that game against the Brewers.
“I don’t think there’s anything cooler than that, you have one of the greatest basketball players of all time putting on your jersey. That never gets old, I’m sure.”
