Kevin Durant doesn’t agree with claims that the NBA in the 1980s and ’90s was more physical than today’s game.

The Phoenix Suns superstar forward expressed that sentiment on his “The ETCs” podcast, saying that he has watched old game film and implying that the previous era wasn’t necessarily more physical.

“I go back and watch a lot of that ’90s film, ’80s stuff, and they play physical, but I just think they got away with a lot of flagrant fouls,” Durant, who was traded from the Nets to the Suns ahead of the NBA trade deadline, said. “And I think that’s why they call their era more physical than ours. Because, guys, we play physical here, too.

“But I watched some of those games, the paint was clear, nobody was getting touched, it wasn’t a lot of help defense. But you did get a lot of flagrant fouls [that] didn’t result into fines or getting kicked out the game, so it just seemed like it was a little tougher.”

Ex-players from the 1980s and 1990s have expressed the current generation is more “soft” compared to their era by rejecting the idea of load management and calling today’s game less physical.

The ‘80s and ‘90s, in particular, were filled with much more noted physical play – especially for teams like the Bad Boy-era Pistons, who gained notoriety over their aggressive style of play.

Joe Dumars, the NBA’s head of basketball operations and a former member of the Bad Boy-era Pistons, admitted to ESPN that the game has evolved since the ‘80s and ‘90s, saying there is much more pace involved.

“The floor is more spread, probably a lot more cutting. All of those things are factual. I don’t think there’s any argument to that,” Dumars said. “What it does to the body, I presume, it probably stresses the body as much as anything. I don’t see how someone could argue against that.”

Durant, in particular, has watched the game evolve since he joined the league in 2007, with on-ball defenders getting less of a chance to be more physical with ballhandlers over the past decade through a slew of new rules.

He agreed with the idea that the floor is more spread in today’s game but still rejected the notion the game was more physical back in the old days.

“There’s more space, but guys play physical,” Durant said. “We got strong, athletic guys here, too.”