NOVEMBER 1 2007
AMERICANWAY 51
Bird champions the pizza at Pagliacci, a
Seattle mainstay. “It’s got a thin crust, it’s
not heavy, and it’s huge. Really good,” she
says.Durant looks semiconvinced.
When Bird repeats her best-burger-in-
town recommendation, Durant, who pol-
ished off a four-inch-thick Dick’s burger
in roughly five bites during the fir t leg of
the photo session, nods knowingly. Then,
despite his claim that he knows little about
the city’s hot spots, Durant passes along a
recommendation of his own: Seastar Res-
taurant inBellevue, just outsideSeattle.
“The crab legs— that’swhat I had. They
open themup for you so that youdon’thave
to do the work,” he says. Then he quickly
adds, “But I don’t mind the work.” Bird
counters byhyping the seafood at bothFly-
ing Fish and Cutters Bayhouse. “You like
that kind of stuff, you’re in the right place,”
she says.
The conversation closeswith the veteran
passingalonga few fir t-year tipsoncoping
and getting around to the newbie. Though
Durant doesn’t acknowledge feeling any of
the new-city jitters that Bird says she expe-
riencedduringher fir t season (perhapsbe-
cause he hasn’t, you know, really lived here
yet), heasksherhow shemanaged to famil-
iarize herself with Seattle. “I just got inmy
caranddrove,” she responds. “Ididn’tknow
where Iwas going, but Iwas like, I’mgoing
to figure it out. That’s how you get to know
Seattle,whether you livehereornot.”
With that, Bird and Durant exchange a
quickhandshake and are off. Durant, how-
ever, can’t resist taking one last shot with a
ball thathe foundwedgedunderacourtside
seat. He dribbles once, sets himself, and
firesupa three from the far-right-handcor-
ner of the court. It arches magnificently…
andmisses the basket entirely, the only one
of the 300-odd shots he threw up during
thephoto session tomeet sucha fate.
The ball rolls toward the opposite side-
line, intersectingBird’s pathonherwalk to
the locker room. Her photo-session blazer
already doffed and slung over her shoulder,
she grabs the ball off the floor and word-
lessly slings it back to him. A slight half
grin, half smirk creases her face as she, the
veteran, again lends the rookie ahand.Du-
rantnodsappreciativelyand thenburies the
follow-up.
He moved to Seattle inmid-September,
to a house on Mercer Island, where he’ll
be living with his mother and other fam-
ily members. His poise and self-assurance
make it easy to forget that Durant just
turned 19. Only once during the inter-
view does this bubble to the surface:Mom
sidles up to him and, as he’s enthusiasti-
cally recalling seeing R&B star Ne-Yo at
the Showbox in June, squeezes a puddle of
skin cream onto his pizza-size hands and
begins tomassage it in. Durant temporar-
ily stops what he’s saying and shoots her a
look that’s familiar to parents of teenagers
everywhere.
Heperksupwhen theconversation turns
to steak and the procurement thereof at
areabistros.Admitting that hehasdinedat
only a few such places, he points toMetro-
politan Grill and the Brooklyn as his early
favorites. “They have all the steaks, all the
sides, all theappetizers,” he says.
Durant doesn’t anticipate having much
time off in the months ahead, and he fi -
ures that he’ll spend whatever little down-
time he has at the localmovieplex. Still, he
has already extended an open invitation
to his former teammates at the University
of Texas, and he relishes the idea of sell-
ing them on Seattle. “It was a family thing
inTexas, andwe’re a family for life. If they
come into town,we’ll have something toeat
and they’ll come see the team,” he says.
IfDurant isn’tup forhostingduty, there’s
noshortageof luxehotelsnearby.TheWSe-
attleearnshighmarks for itsurbanstyleand
spa facilities, while the Fairmont Olympic
Hotel offers old-school luxury. Hotel Max,
known in a prior incarnation as the Vance
Hotel, boasts quirk to spare— in its artistic
decor,multiplepillowchoices,and“spiritual
menu” (their words, not ours). “I hope
[
my
former teammates
]
stay with me, though,”
Durant addswitha laugh. And then,witha
half skip, he’sbackoff to the court.
AftERhAvINgbEEN
poked andposed for
the past two hours, Bird and Durant have
more or less exhausted their small-talk al-
lowances. But when they sit down together
in thenear-emptyKeyArena for a fewbrief
minutes, the back-and-forth flows freely.
A quick question about clubs in the area
— Bird points Durant toward the O’Asian
and the futuristicVenom— leads toa rath-
er spiriteddebateabout thebest local pizza.
LARRYDobRoW
writes and lives inNewYorkCity.
