Even though he and the Brooklyn Nets’ season is over, Kevin Durant has been making headlines as of a late for a couple of reasons.
Just a few days ago, Durant committed to represent the United States in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, but that is not why he is the talk of the sports world today.
No surprise here, this war of words occurred on Twitter, which we all know Durant enjoys the twitter-verse whether it is his account or not.
His reaction does seem warranted though, as Scottie Pippen spoke about Durant while being interviewed by GQ, where he expressed that he does not think Durant has surpassed LeBron James as the best player in basketball.
Durant is known for being one of the NBA’s most interactive players when it comes to social media, as he often gets into riffs with fans, and once Pippen’s comments surfaced Durant was not pleased.
Durant is referring to an instance that occurred during Pippen’s playing career, where in 1994 Pippen and the Chicago Bulls were in the middle of a playoff series against the Knicks that saw the game come down to the final seconds. When Bulls coach Phil Jackson called timeout to draw up a game-winning play, he did not come up with a play that would see Pippen taking the shot. So in response, Pippen sat himself out of the game while his teammate Tony Kukoč hit the shot.
Pippen can be deemed an “old head” as he is often critical of current players and he finds joy in expressing that players from his era are better.
Durant had a fantastic and record-breaking series against the Milwaukee Bucks, but ultimately fell short in game seven. Durant averaged 35.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 7 games versus the Bucks in a series where his team was without Kyrie Irving and James Harden was severely limited because of injury.
Whether you agree with Pippen or not is a personal choice, but to say that Durant is the best player in basketball is no longer outlandish.