On Monday afternoon, Kevin Durant’s Instagram account liked an Instagram comment saying that Russell Westbrook was “the problem” with the Oklahoma City Thunder when he and Durant played together. Taken at face value, the like seemed to represent Durant trashing his former teammate two years after abandoning him OKC.
This, naturally, set off a giddy response from the NBA internet, which loves nothing more than scrutinizing the social-media activity of league All-Stars.
KD liked the comment 👀 pic.twitter.com/E9KSy72n6Q
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 23, 2018
But before fans even had time to revel in how #petty Durant’s like was, the Warriors star had checked in with an explanation: The like was a “total accident,” he told reporters, not a deliberate shot at Russ.
Kevin Durant tells me it was a "total accident" that he liked a comment on Instagram about Russell Westbrook. Was just an honest mistake.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 23, 2018
On one hand, that explanation seems about as hard to believe as the age-old “I was hacked” cop-out. On the other hand, could Durant really have been dumb enough to think no one would notice him pulling that move? Or that it wouldn’t blow up into an online frenzy.
In a way, it doesn’t matter. Because whether Durant vastly misunderstood how the internet works or simply has the clumsiest fat fingers in the NBA, it’s clear he needs to get the hell of social media.
This, of course, is not Durant’s first embarrassing online gaffe of the season. Back in September, he defended himself (in third person) against a random Twitter user in a tweet he clearly meant to send from an anonymous burner account. You would think being laughed at by the entire internet-enabled world (including his own teammate Draymond Green) would have taught him to be more careful on social media, but it seems not. On Monday, he was at it again.
Every year around this time, KD’s rival LeBron James goes dark on all his social-media so he can focus on the playoffs. Durant should probably follow LeBron’s lead… and then never bring his accounts back.
