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Kevin Durant credits 'the media' for the 'fake drama' between him and Russell Westbrook
Kevin Durant just doesn’t want there to be a controversy between him and former teammate Russell Westbrook, but in telling the media that it was the media’s fault that intrigue abounds, he was telling off the wrong group of people.
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His ire would better be directed at Westbrook himself, who understandably appears to have taken some offense, released in passive/aggressive form, at Durant’s departure from the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise. Durant’s move to the 2015 champion Golden State Warriors is just as understandable, it’s his choice to play in whatever basketball system he wants, but he’s lying to himself if he thinks the media created the “fake drama” that he brings up in regards to him and Russell. As if we’re the ones dressing Russell Westbrook before games.
In a discussion with ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” in anticipation of the blockbuster Golden State/Oklahoma City contest that is set to take place in Oklahoma City on Saturday night, Durant discussed what he’s trying to pass as the impetus for the unease between him and his former teammate:
“I was doing an interview with someone and I used the word ‘unselfish’ to describe my teammates here [with] the Warriors and someone asked Russell the question, asked if he heard what I said about being unselfish and he phrased the question as if I was saying that the Thunder and the organization and the team was selfish. And once I heard that, I was like, ‘They are trying to get in between this thing and make it bigger than what it is.’
“Obviously Russell wasn’t going to hear that [full] interview I had about me just talking about my teammates I have now and someone in Oklahoma City phrased it to him as if I was calling them selfish. It’s that easy. It’s that easy for the media to twist something up and for the media, you know, [to] make a feud between us.”
Some might argue that it was Durant’s move to leave the reliably championship-contending Oklahoma City Thunder as the reason for Westbrook’s frustration. Or Durant’s phone silence in the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months since his decision to leave Westbrook and the Thunder. Both actions widely predate the “selfless” back and forth that took place during training camp for both squads.
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Durant is not wrong in pointing out that the (well-meaning) media scrum in Oklahoma City, back in October, did not read in full his comments about feeling “really grateful to play for a team like that and play with a bunch of players who are selfless and enjoy the game in its purest form,” because oh … wait, yeah, the Oklahoman’s Erik Horne read the comments verbatim to Westbrook, so as to present context prior to Westbrook’s dismissive “that’s cute” rebuttal.
That was October. The radio silence was in place in early July, and late July. The two apparently still haven’t talked, with the reason for any discussion in the first place being to accommodate the presumably frayed nerves of Westbrook after Durant deemed his team and presence unacceptable prior to joining the Warriors.
That’s enough for “drama,” full stop. Dwyane Wade may have said and done the right things in the years since LeBron James left him in Miami to return home to Cleveland to play, but would you be upset to learn that Wade secretly harbored a basement’s full of kewpie dolls strewn up in LeBron’s likeness? Wade’s career has been in a tailspin since 2014, and you wouldn’t deny him any resentment.
Add to it the silence, and then the gushing over Golden State during training camp, and you’ve got yet another well-worn scowl added to the repertoire of Westbrook, a player that works with a perpetual sneer even during the sunniest of climates.
Kevin Durant doesn’t want this. But, unlike grabbing a max contract and becoming a member of the Golden State Warriors (two selections he has wholly earned), he can’t have everything he wants. Like that max contract and recruited presence toward placement in an offensive system that better fits his game, he’s going to have to earn this.
He’d hope for better terms of engagement, but he’s also the one who dug the hole deeper upon deciding to keep things cool with Westbrook. Bad communication doesn’t work itself out in a black hole, no matter how much Durant would like. He is indeed “projecting hope onto reality,” as our Dan Devine wrote all the way back in November. There’s a three-month space, with plenty of time for drama-quashing, in the time since that accurate characterization.
The game’s the thing, not the drama, and Durant has heretofore been his absolute best when paired up against his ex-team, and ex-teammate. Saturday’s pairing will, for the first time, take place in Oklahoma City – the town whose basketball team, and nothing else, Durant skipped out on last July.
The fans will boo him for that much, and Russell Westbrook will compete because this is who Russell Westbrook is – Returning Durant, or Rebuilding Dallas, he’s bringing it.
If Kevin Durant wants to be closer with Russell Westbrook, then the task is his to formulate. All the media has done is write down what those two have, and haven’t, said.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
