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Kevin Durant Sends Message on NFL Quarterback After Malik Nabers Comment

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Dean Koutouratsas | Last updated Jul 2, 2025 1:41 PM ET

Houston Rockets All-Star forward Kevin Durant showed his appreciation for an NFL rising star.

Durant, 36, spoke at the FanDuel Boardroom conference alongside FanDuel CEO Christian Genetski and New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers. Both athletes are FanDuel partners who helped advocate for the nationwide legalization of sports betting.

However, sports betting has some concerns, such as losing a fair amount of money on unsuccessful betts, which Durant noted while talking about the fan and player experience the company created.

“I want to see you succeed in your sports betting, and many people got emotional when they put these bets in,” Durant said. “A lot of times they ain’t doing their research and I’m holding people accountable on Twitter and they enjoy the fan and player experience because they get heckled by me.”

As the conversation continued, Durant talked about betting on his hometown NFL team, the Washington Commanders, who are NFC East division rivals to Nabers and the Giants. However, Nabers has a soft spot for Commanders starting quarterback Jayden Daniels because of their time together in college with the LSU Tigers (2022-23), where they took the sport by surprise and became NCAA All-Americans.

“Nah, it’s hard to talk trash,” Nabers joked. “You got my best friend at quarterback.”

Following Nabers' comment, Durant gave Daniels a shoutout on X: “Yessir, big season ahead @commanders @JayD_5.”

yessir big season ahead @Commanders @JayD__5 pic.twitter.com/1CEKMS6xZ1
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) July 1, 2025

Durant praised the Commanders quarterback after he led Washington to a 12-5 record and an NFC Championship game appearance in his rookie season. He also threw for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns en route to winning the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award in February.

Furthermore, Daniels maintained a close relationship with Nabers throughout their rookie seasons, even though they now play for opposing teams. The Giants and Commanders met two times during the regular season, where the tandem took time to speak with each other and exchange jerseys before the opening kickoff of the first meeting in Week 2 of the season on Sept. 15.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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