In Olympic team sports, regular team affiliations go out the window. Everyone plays for Team USA, and that’s all that matters.
But not everything goes out the window at the Olympics. Kevin Durant, 32, had to remind 24-year-old Bam Adebayo that the unwritten rules of basketball still apply in Tokyo, even if they’re not playing for their regular NBA teams (the Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat, respectively).
KD made a shot during shoot around at Team USA practice on Thursday. Adebayo picked it up and started dribbling with it, which is a violation of the unwritten rules. Durant was supposed to get the ball back after he made the shot, and he immediately asked Adebayo why he’d kept the ball. Adebayo was pretty sure that Damian Lillard had kept Durant’s ball, but didn’t have much of a choice but to give it back to the three-time Olympian.
Later on, the two teammates took their “fight” to — where else? — Twitter.
Adebayo’s response, both at practice and on Twitter, had a very “whatever, GRANDPA” vibe to it — though most people probably wouldn’t tweet the middle finger emoji at their grandfather.
Team USA’s first game is against France on Friday, which is when we’ll find out if this good natured brotherly squabbling translates to much-needed on-court chemistry.
More Olympics coverage from Yahoo Sports: