Earlier this summer, Devin Cannady found himself in the middle of the best and worst basketball situation at the same time.
In Los Angeles, he was playing a game off two-on-two with Kevin Durant as his teammate. But he had to guard Kyrie Irving.
Cannady, a 6-foot-2 standout guard for the Long Island Nets last season, had just conceded four consecutive baskets to Irving. But that didn’t alter Durant’s standards, expectations or his confidence in Cannady.
“Go!” Durant yelled at Cannady.
Cannady conceded another basket, so Durant halted the game to explain how to better defend Irving. As hard as Irving can be to stop, Durant continued to tell Cannady that he could do it.
“If I got the confidence from KD,” Cannady said in a recent phone interview, “then I don’t need to hold back anymore at all.”
Ahead of the NBA’s restart in July, Cannady was on the radar of a few teams as a…
