It Is Becoming Impossible To Root For Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is one of the most talented players in the NBA.

He also happens to be one of the biggest weirdos in the league who requested a trade from a franchise that has done nothing but adhere to all of his wishes.

Last week, Durant met with Nets team owner, Joe Tsai, to essentially deliver an ultimatum. Either fire both the GM and the head coach or trade him. Demanding both the head coach AND general manager be fired is a nasty move but it’s even nastier when the GM had success building an organization that enticed you enough to sign there in free agency and fired a great head coach to replace him with a head coach you personally requested.

Now, it’s important to take a step back and make it very clear that whatever KD is doing should not lead to some overcorrection where we now have to stop ‘player empowerment’ and change rules to stop players from requesting trades before their contracts or any of that shit.

These billionaire owners need no sympathy. We can call it player empowerment all we want but these owners have lost absolutely no power. In fact, having fans hate James Harden and Ben Simmons after their trade requests shows how much power these owners have in the media and their ability to change our perception of specific players.

Suppose you are a cashier at Target and the custodian isn’t cleaning the bathrooms properly and the other cashiers are showing up late or constantly making mistakes. In that case, you would 1000% complain to your boss or try to transfer to a different store or your own effort at work would plummet or you’d simply quit. Imagine if everything at your job is going to hell and people flooded your Twitter and Instagram messages with ‘if you were such a great cashier, you’d be able to lead Target to greatness on your own’.

With all that being said, none of it applies to Kevin Durant who specifically chose to join forces with Kyrie Irving—a guy who has convinced himself he is one of the biggest victims on planet Earth despite being paid millions of dollars to play a game he loves in front of thousands of people wearing his name on their backs.

A majority of the criticisms Kyrie has received throughout his career have been the direct results of his own actions and words. He knew if he didn’t get the vaccine then he wouldn’t be able to play home games in Brooklyn and elected to pretend to be some freedom fighter against vaccine mandates while people were watching their friends and family die from Covid.

You can assume Durant is upset about the way the organization alienated Kyrie (even though Kyrie alienated himself) and wants a fresh start somewhere else. He tried to build something with his best friend and he’s entering his third season in Brooklyn following back-to-back first-round playoff exits with Kyrie on this final year of his contract and Ben Simmons who—like Kyrie—loooooooves no-call no-showing his job.

I was happy to see Giannis finally win a chip and prove his the no. 1 guy in the league. I was happy to see Kawhi lead a ragtag group of Canadians to a title. Every superstar in this league has a legion of devoted fans ready to die in the Bleacher Report twitter comments for their favorite guys.

Yet, Kevin Durant is impossible to defend. The only ‘cool’ thing I can think of Durant doing in the last like, 5 years is calling Michael Rappaport a cunt and threatening to spit in his face. See, there was a challenge placed in front of him and he stood there and confronted that problem instead of firing a coach or demanding a trade.

Sometimes, things go wrong. Constantly needing a perfect environment around you 24/7 is some real main character syndrome. Especially when you take zero accountability for your own role in the state of your own affairs. Kevin Durant isn’t some helpless role player. He says he wants something and he gets it 99% of the time.

He should probably focus more on the fact he shot 38% as he was being swept by the Boston Celtics last season. I hope the Nets don’t trade him and he sits out all season. He does not deserve to be sent to Phoenix or Miami and be rewarded for his lack of self-awareness.

If Durant loves Kyrie so much then the two of them can go sit out every game and cough Coronavirus into each other’s mouth and post cryptic Bible verses while their former teams play in the Finals again.

Also, can’t wait to pay $12 for courtside seats at the Barclays next season watching TJ Warren score the most stressful 16 points.

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