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What Did Kevin Durant Mean When He Tweeted 'I Tried, Jennifer'? The 'I'm Trying Jennifer' Meme Explained
A few days ago, just before the Team USA men's basketball team took the court for the first game of their 2024 Olympic run, a picture of young NBA superstar Anthony Edwards dunking on older NBA superstar Kevin Durant was tweeted by Bleacher Report.
In response, Durant tweeted, "I tried, Jennifer," even though no one named "Jennifer" was associated with the post or the photo, which quickly prompted confusion among many.
KD was memeing, reviving an old catchphrase of NBA Twitter and earning a new round of appreciation for Durant's mastery of posting.
If you're still lost on the whole tweet and history behind the I'm Trying Jennifer meme, here's a brief explanation of how the catchphrase began and evolved over the last six years.
Where Does "I'm Trying Jennifer" Come From?
"I tried Jennifer" is a variation of "I'm trying Jennifer," which was tweeted in 2018 by NBA player CJ McCollum. On August 15th of that year, McCollum argued he was taken out of context when he said he didn't like when NBA stars joined already-talented rosters in order to chase a championship. In response, a user named Jennifer Williams posted, "Win a playoff game, then talk," to which McCollum responded, "I'm trying Jennifer."
McCollum's run-of-the-mill response to an unremarkable bit of internet trash talk hit the funnybone of basketball tweeters, and "I'm trying Jennifer" became a go-to catchphrase, particularly for fans of McCollum's team, the Portland Trail Blazers.
The meme culminated in May 2019 when "Jennifer" met McCollum during the Western Conference Finals (McCollum and the Trail Blazers had won eight playoff games to get to that point).
CJ finally got to meet Jennifer … yes that Jennifer 😆She’ll also be featured on #HoopStreams live at Oracle. pic.twitter.com/kYLGyHghAS
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 17, 2019
Why Did Kevin Durant Tweet "I Tried Jennifer"?
The meme largely died off after the 2018-2019 season and was used sparingly online in the 2020s, largely as a reference "old heads" might get. This seems to be why Durant's usage of the phrase was so celebrated, as not only is Durant an MVP-level superstar of the NBA, but he's also proven to be a world-class poster.
It seems KD revived the meme due to appearing in a scenario where he didn't look great (in this case, getting dunked on). As McCollum was responding to getting slightly "owned by a random poster, KD was responding to him getting "owned" by Anthony Edwards.
Granted, the context of KD's tweet doesn't quite match the scenario in McCollum's original, but the reference alone was enough to earn NBA fans' cheers.
For the full history of I'm Trying Jennifer, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
