Getty Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant might be looked at as one of the best players in the NBA, but the Brooklyn Nets star has his fair share of critics.
Much of the criticism stems from him leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder and joining the stacked Golden State Warriors to capture an NBA title. After winning in Golden State alongside Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, he joined Brooklyn in the hopes of building a championship team there.
After being swept out of the first round by the Boston Celtics, the dreams of hoisting a trophy in Brooklyn will have to wait at least another year, but there are some people who don’t think Durant can lead a team to a title himself.
NBA Hall of Famer turned analyst Charles Barkley is one of those people and he said Durant is a bus rider instead of the driver.
Barkley Takes a Shot
Barkley, speaking on his show Inside the NBA, took the shot at Durant before the series wrapped up.
“All these bus riders, they don’t mean nothing to me,” he said. “If you ain’t driving the bus, don’t walk around talking about ‘you a champion.’ If you’re riding the bus, I don’t want to hear it. Come on Shaq, tell’ em. All these guys walk around with these championship rings. Hey, ya’ll bus riders. But let me tell you something. When you’re the bus driver and you got all that pressure when you have to play well or you going to get the blame? That’s a different animal.”
He argues that in Golden State, he was able to join a team with a clear leader and just play his role.
“Kevin Durant is a great, great player,” he later clarified. “When I talked about bus riders last night, I think people are trying to say I was saying he was a freeloader on the bus. He was a very important part of them winning those two championships, said Barkley. “But the point I was making was, when you are the guy on the a team, your responsibilities change. You’re not allowed to have bad games. That’s just the responsibility that goes with being a great player. And like I said, he’s got his own bus now, which is the point I was trying to make. I ain’t never gonna bad mouth Kevin, I think he’s a great player and a great kid… Now he’s the leader. He’s the clear-cut bus driver.”
Durant Shoots Back
easymoneysniper – InstagramKevin Durant fires back at Charles Barkley on Instagram.
After the loss to the Celtics that knocked the Nets out of the playoffs, Durant decided to reply to Barkley. Instead of saying anything, he began by simply posting pictures of Barkley’s time with the Houston Rockets where he and Scottie Pippen joined Hakeem Olajuwon to create a failed superteam on his Instagram story.
“Where would chuck be without the big homies?” he asked later as he posted a picture of Barkley on the Sixers.
easymoneysniper – InstagramDurant takes a shot at Barkley.
The point Durant appears to be making is no team can make it off the back of one player, and even Barkley had help everywhere he went.
It’ll be a long offseason for the Nets and expect there to be even more critics coming out as the days go by.
READ NEXT: Coach Steve Nash Clarifies Future With Nets After Celtics Sweep