Despite the assistance of Wu-Tang Clan, the New York Knicks heard “N-O” from KD.
Investigative journalist Pablo Torre found another bit of Knicks recruiting lost to history: hosting Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man on his program “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” Torre confirmed, and later posted, a 2019 music video that depicted the Staten Island-based hip hop group engaging in a music pitch for then-free agent Kevin Durant.
“I haven’t heard it since I did it,” Method Man said on the program. “I don’t remember the track but I remember we shot a visual for it … We really wanted KD to come and I knew KD wanted to come to New York, he just wasn’t clear on where he wanted to go.”
At the time, Durant was moving on from the Golden State Warriors after a three-year term that produced two titles. While many paired Durant with the Knicks, he never took a meeting with the team and opted for their cross-borough rivals, the Brooklyn Nets, instead.
Wu-Tang Clan’s musical efforts thus went for naught and mostly vanished, though Torre and his team were tipped off to a video relatively buried on a Wu-Tang online message board, said to be posted by one of the cinematographers.
Clad in a No. 35 Knicks jersey (the digits that Durant wore during his time in Seattle/Oklahoma City and Golden State), Method Man’s verses encourage Durant to join forces with then-Knicks building blocks Kevin Knox and Dennis Smith Jr. while reminding him of a 2018 visit to Madison Square Garden, when Durant scored 41 points in a Warriors win. Wu-Tang Clan’s lyrics are interrupted by images of the city and Knicks fans eagerly calling for Durant’s arrival.
Perhaps Durant should’ve followed the beat: the two-time Finals MVP missed his entire Brooklyn debut due to injury and other ailments prevented the Nets from consistently fielding their planned triumvirate of Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. All three have eventually moved on, leading the Nets to engage in another period of rebuilding. Durant, now stationed in Houston, was traded to the Phoenix Suns at 2023 trade deadline in a deal that acquired current Knick Mikal Bridges.
Durant’s defection to Brooklyn led some critics to believe that the Nets had officially stolen metropolitan preferences away from the Knicks, but loyalties have since returned to Manhattan. While the Knicks didn’t find success with Knox or Smith, they found solid footing under Julius Randle and Tom Thibodeau before Jalen Brunson’s arrival took the team to new levels in 2022.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Knicks called upon metropolitan reinforcements with the goal of landing a big name: Torre and his team previously unearthed a recruitment video used during LeBron James’ highly-publicized 2010 free agency tour. That equally futile try featured Edie Falco and James Gandolfini reprising their roles from “The Sopranos,” as well as metropolitan testimonials from local icons such as Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Spike Lee, Mark Messier, Willis Reed, Chris Rock, and Donald Trump.
