Barack Obama congratulates Kevin Durant after NBA Finals

Former President Barack Obama had some intelligent praise for Kevin Durant after the superstar’s first NBA title.

The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games to win the 2017 NBA title, and it wasn’t shocking that Kevin Durant played a huge role in what took place. He was named Finals MVP, and the most intriguing person to reach out to him after receiving that honor was former President Barack Obama.

Durant spoke on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” recently, and the four-time scoring champion revealed this interesting tidbit. Here is an excerpt from the podcast via Business Insider.

"“Simmons: What was the most surprising text you got in the last 24 hours?Durant: Obama.Simmons: Oh!Durant: Well, he sent a text through somebody to get to me.Simmons: What’d he say?Durant: ‘Congrats. Your defense was really good,’ which was random. [laughs]Simmons: KD’s like, ‘My defense has always been good Mr. Former President.’Durant: [laughs] He told me to enjoy it, have some fun, you know, typical stuff. But I wasn’t expecting that.”"

Obama is the most passionate fan of basketball that has ever resided in the White House, which is why it’s not a surprise to see him praise KD. Simply put, Durant was brilliant. On the offensive side of the ball he was seemingly as dominant as he’s ever been. It was on the defensive end of the floor though, along with Klay Thompson’s intensity, that he made the difference for Golden State.

Will Golden State go to the Oval Office next season?

They will probably not visit the White House given head coach Steve Kerr’s comments in the past year. However, it must have been nice for Durant to get recognition from the biggest basketball fanatic to ever grace the West Wing.

You can listen to Bill’s full podcast here. Simmons seems to have built up a solid rapport with Durant, and that should lead to many more entertaining podcasts and interviews in the future.

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The Warriors appear to be poised for multiple championships, but you never know what can happen over the course of the season and playoffs. Two things are certain. Obama is still paying attention to his favorite sport, and Durant is going to be on this stage a lot in the near future.