Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant said he is no longer motivated by titles, with the former NBA MVP focused on development and further improvement.
Durant has won it all in his illustrious basketball career - two championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards, to go with his 2014 Most Valuable Player gong and 11 All-Star selections.
The 32-year-old arrived in Brooklyn in 2019, having claimed both of his NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors.
Having battled Achilles and hamstring injuries during his time with the star-studded Nets - who are eyeing their maiden championship - Durant said he is not driven by silverware.
"I wasn't expecting to be a happy human being from a title," Durant told ESPN. "I was just expecting like, you know, the ending of a movie -- once you worked so hard and everybody tells you like, 'Yo, this is what you need to be working for, is this gold ball and these rings'.
"And I'm just like, 'All right, cool, let me lock in on that.' And I locked in on wanting to achieve that, but I also realised it's a lot of stuff that factors in it that's out of my control.
"And once I won a championship [with Golden State], I realised that, like, my view on this game is really about development. Like, how good can I be? It's not about, you know, let's go get this championship.
"I appreciate that stuff and I want to win to experience that stuff, but it's not the end-all, be-all of why I play the game."
Durant added: "I've been around, been out of the game for two years and having anxiety about like, 'What am I doing when I get back?
"Being out with an Achilles has you thinking about the game differently. And my goal is to be out there, you know. Who knows what's gonna happen when I'm out there.
"I just want to be available. And I think that's all I really want out of this, to be available for as long as I can. And we'll see what happens between the lines."
Durant is averaging 28.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists for the Nets this season, while he is boasting a career-best three-point percentage (44.3).
The Nets (36-16) are a game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers (35-17) atop the Eastern Conference.