“I’ve learned what it feels like to lose, believe me. But I think, in the end, that is just going to make winning that much better.”

I just loved being in the gym. It was tough at times. Sometimes I wanted to quit, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

I’ve been more content with just who I am.

If I continue to just get to the playoffs every year, I guess you could say I arrived, but right now I’m just trying to find my way.

You hear all these stories about, ‘There’s one in a million guys that make it to the NBA and stay there.’ To see people cheering for me and when they say my name, it’s just crazy. It’s still crazy to me.

Beautiful fans of Oklahoma City, I can’t say enough about you guys. All the support you give our team. The home-court advantage we have is the best I’ve ever seen. We disappoint you sometimes, but we try our best every single night to win for you guys. And we want to win a championship for you guys.

If it’s controversy out there, or if it’s some false stories out there, I want to clear it up. That’s just what I’m all about.

I want to go down as a winner.

Dad, it’s been an up-and-down road for all of us, but you’ve always been there supporting from afar, texting me Bible verses every single day, telling me you love me every single day. That builds me up and I thank you so much. I love you. I’m just glad you’re part of this journey with us.

Hopefully before I’m done, I can be on an Olympic team.

I fell so many times and got back up. I been through the toughest times with my family, but I’m still standing.

Last but not least my family. My brother Tony, I love you. Thank you for beating me up when I was a kid. I always wanted to follow in your footsteps.

I don’t watch a lot of other basketball away from the gym. But I do look at LeBron’s box score. I want to see how many points, rebounds and assists he had, and how he shot from the field.

When people are used to you doing something, they want you to stay in that lane.

Me as a person, I’m not the president of the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association). I don’t even know what to say. I’m not like this perfect, buttoned-up, suit-and-tie guy.

I want to be a champion.

All this stuff is kind of surreal to me – Ididn’t think I’d be in the league or none of that. It was making it to college. That’s about it.

Emotions weren’t created to just lie around. You should experience things to the full. I’ve got a sense of the clock ticking.

We are all made of air There’s stars in my eyes and there’s sun in my hair And I’m runnin’ away, it makes me feel better

We have got to have the ugly facts in order to protect us from the official view of reality. Otherwise, we are squeezed empty and filled with what other people want us to think and feel and experience.

People ask for this life, but they don’t really understand what comes with it. People just see the outside and that looks good – big houses, cars, girls, but you never see how the person is feeling deep down inside.

I never wanted to join fashion industry or being another Donna or another Dianne. I made clothes that I wanted to wear. I would cut, I would sew and I would wear, and it made me to feel better.

I don’t feel like I’m with you. And I say, You know what? That was your mother’s gripe, too. And she was right. And you’re also correct. When you cop to something, you get to the next level. In this case, the next level is: I just learned something from my twelve-year-old.

In a way I feel sorry for him, because of his work with me he cannot play as much chess as he wants. He more or less gave up his playing career.

Most people feel best about themselves when they have given their very best.