Kevin Durant is having an argument on social media (gasp). Actually this started all the way back in December 2020 after an interview between Charles Barkley and Kevin Durant.
Rapaport criticized Durant’s short response:
KD shot into Rapaport’s Direct Messages with “U a b…”
Rappaport came back with “just do the f’in interview and if you’re upset about something they’ve said SAY SOMETHING. Up there looking like you’re going to cry”
KD responded with “I did the interview you (bleep). Tell your baby daddy Chuck to be better at his job and frame his questions better. He gave me 2 options for that bad question. Yes or no.
The exchange would eventually get worse, at one-point KD called him the c word, that he would spit in his face, and also asked him to meet somewhere to fight. Durant actually does blow up his DM’s a lot with horrific things which is hilarious if you watch Howard Stern because you know how awful Michael is to the staff in the fantasy league they do there.
The first topic to discuss here is whether or not Michael should be going public on twitter about some DM’s. In my mind, you’re talking on social media which means everything is public domain anyways. You can’t get unhinged online because you aren’t posting on the main timeline. It seems a little goofy to do something like that, but Durant was being a little extreme about it.
The second factor is that Rapaport understands how to get attention. He is able to navigate the media landscape better than most people. When he feels his interaction rates aren’t where he wants them to be, he can easily create the buzz he is looking for. The guy has so many conflicts going on at one time, he just has to choose which one he wants to go public with.
The other major part about this is Kevin Durant’s response that started this all. This connects well with the Westbrook Stephen A Smith situation I just talked about in a recent article. Durant has to know that one-word answers are not what media personnel are looking for. If you feel the question wasn’t worded well then talk about that. The TNT crew drives a lot of people to the game. They say controversial things that show up in the trended page on Twitter most of the time. That is one of the NBA’s biggest partnerships when it comes to driving people to the game. Kevin Durant has to understand that part of signing his contract with the Nets includes moments like this.
Durant has a long history of sensitivity dating all the way back to 2017 when he was exposed for using fake accounts to defend himself on Twitter. It’s strange to see one of the greatest basketball players of all time be subjected to behavior like this. All the other players on top 10 lists like MJ and Lebron have all controlled their narrative. They have never responded to criticism and are always the cool guys. Durant is definitely not that.
KD would eventually be fined $50,000 from the NBA for his insensitive marks. When asked about it, this is what he said.
Kevin Durant is a strang person.
