In an interview with The San Jose Mercury News, Warriors forward Kevin Durant said all the media hype about a feud between him and Thunder guard Russell Westbrook are off base and that the former teammates are “brothers at the end of the day.”
Durant and Westbrook had been teammates in Oklahoma City ever since the Thunder drafted Westbrook in 2008. Then Durant left for the Warriors in July, just weeks after the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
The duo will face off as NBA opponents for the first time Thursday when the Thunder visit Oracle Arena.
Durant admitted to breaking the news of his departure to Westbrook through a text message and addressed that in the interview.
“I’m not saying I did it the right way. I’m owning up to that,” Durant said. “We’re not going to go through this in the media though. I’m not going to say I should’ve did this, should’ve did that. We’ll figure our differences out as men 1-on-1.”
Although the media has tried to build up the conflict between Durant and Westbrook, neither player has said anything to support the existence of anything more than a little tension between them. Durant admitted as much to the Mercury News.
“This is a tough time right now in our relationship,” Durant said. “But I love Russ. I love his family. They all know that. I never did anything morally wrong. I never back-stabbed him in real life, never did anything behind his back, never told anyone anything about his character. Never did any of that. I just left teams. I just switched teams. Everyone on the outside is looking at it as, ‘Oh, you must not have liked him.’ Hell no. C’mon man. Nobody understand that part.”
Westbrook has not requited the sentiment, but he has not taken shots at Durant either despite being baited often.
During NBA preseason, Durant praised his Warriors teammates for playing selfless and pure basketball. Of course, the media immediately flocked to Westbrook for a response, and although he responded with his usual sass and humor, he did not fire at Durant.
“That’s cute, man,” Westbrook said. “That’s cute. But my job is to worry about what’s going on here. We’re going to worry about all the selfish guys we got over here apparently.”
None of this will stop reporters from asking both players tons of questions about their relationship after Thursday’s game, so even if you’re not around to watch the game, you may want to tune in for the postgame because there could be some prime opportunities for hostile Russ to take over the press conferences.
