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Kevin Durant’s proclivity to have it out with Twitter eggs who undermine his talent has become a punch-line in NBA lore. Durant’s hyper-sensitivity has clouded his transcendent abilities in the minds of many, and his inability to rise above the bullshit may lead one to believe he’s incapable of leading leading a team the way he could.
We know this about KD, but former Warriors beat writer Ethan Strauss claims Durant’s need to be universally loved knows no bounds. He reads everything written about him and takes issue with specific sentences and phrases.
In an excerpt from his new book titled The Victory Machine: The Making & Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty, Strauss writes, “KD was, embarrassingly, caught defending his own honor via burner accounts on social media. He frequently lashed out at critics on Instagram. I know fans who received his wrath in their Twitter direct messages. In the locker room … he’d often be bitching about something a random Twitter user said.”
Strauss also details the fallout from a January 2019 piece he wrote about how the Warriors worked hard to make Kevin Durant happy. Durant was so furious with how he was portrayed in this article, he became obsessive in undermining Strauss.
It’s common at a shootaround to walk onto the floor, in the out-of-bounds area. The moment my feet touched hardwood, a practicing Kevin Durant ditched his shooting drill, and speed-walked in my direction.
The ball KD abandoned was still bouncing when he spat, “How can you write that shit!?” He was off and running, venting about the article as media members gawked on.
…
KD inveighed that I didn’t know what I was talking about, and that I didn’t know him. Finally, he closed as his voice rose, with a slight tremble. “You don’t know me! You don’t know what makes me happy!”
It didn’t end there. Strauss claimed that later that day, in the locker room before the game, “KD was glaring at me from the training table behind the locker room.”
KD made his way from the training table to his locker. He motioned me over with a hurried gesture.
…I started with that. “Look, I appreciate you being direct with me . . . ” But the olive branch was instantly swatted aside, interrupted by more venting. He was big on how I had not included comments from his postgame press conference. He kept repeating this. It confused me, because he was talking fast without context. He assumed I knew everything he’d said in that press conference, including whatever detail he believed pertinent to the article.
…
I started responding. “Look, I think . . . ” But KD interrupted me, and just in the way I’m used to. He swiveled his head around the locker room. “Not so loud, bro,” he said. “Everybody don’t need to be hearing this.” Confused, I whipped my head around, seeing nary a threat. Quinn Cook, an affable friend of Kevin’s, was next to us, but the Kings’ impressively capacious locker room was otherwise empty. Why was KD worried about our conversation getting overheard by teammates when he wasn’t even establishing that this was off record? What was the big problem here?
I tried to make a few points, saying I didn’t begrudge him for having leverage with his contract, and insisted that I had good reason to write what I wrote. KD wasn’t impressed and accused me of trying to “rile up Steph’s fans.” He expressed that this was a constant theme in the Bay. All of us local guys just wanted to kiss Steph’s ass at his expense. This was KD’s consistent lament. He would frequently squabble in direct-message conversations with the Warriors fans of Twitter, frequently accusing them of favoring Steph at his expense. In one such exchange that foreshadowed things to come, he was asked by the WarriorsWorld account whether two-time MVP Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving was the better player. “I gotta really sit down and analyze it,” Durant demurred.
KD ended the conversation with: “Just do your fucking job.”
Guys had gotten mad at me before, but not like this. They’d shown anger, but betrayed no obsession. Generally, you get a blast of scorn, but the underlying idea is that you’re a pissant who, after the initial transgression, isn’t worth a further thought. KD made you feel as though he thought more about you than the other way around. He almost flattered you with his spite. Or, it would be flattering if the spite wasn’t so KD-focused. You were only hated insofar as how you reflected on him.
Ethan Strauss should update the security system on his home. This excerpt may have sent KD over the top.
[h/t Hoops Hype]