Getty Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has a long history with NBA Hall of Famer and “Inside the NBA” host Charles Barkley. Barkley, one of the most outspoken television personalities, has never been one to mince words.
Likewise, Durant jumps at most opportunities to defend his name when someone criticizes him. When Barkley did so in a December 2 interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks, Durant gave the Hall of Famer an earful on Twitter.
“This clown does not have g14 classification to speak on the god, we’ve never had a real human interaction…carry on haaaa,” Durant tweeted.
He followed up with another tweet: “I think it’s insecurity when u go on tv trying to take shots at my character as a man. But s***, I’m an ignorant jock, what do I know.”
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Barkley Goes Off on ‘Insecure’ Durant
Barkley and other retired players has previously taken jabs at Durant for failing to win a title outside of the two he won in 2017 and 2018 with the Golden State Warriors. Barkley even notoriously called Durant a “bus rider” on that Warriors team despite his winning back-to-back NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards.
Barkley called Durant “insecure” for getting so upset when people make comments about him.
“I actually like Kevin; I think he’s a great player. I think he’s actually a good dude — I think he’s insecure at times,” Barkley said. “You know, he gets mad when the old guys like myself say that he’s gotta win a championship outside of the Golden State Warriors. And I know he got offended by that but it’s not my job to worry about people’s feelings.”
Barkley also chimed in about Durant’s willing to get into online bouts with fans. Barkley assured Durant that some things are not worth responding to.
“You don’t have to react to every fool,” Barkley added. “When I talk about insecurities, everybody’s opinion doesn’t matter. You don’t need burner phones. You’re Kevin Durant. You can say whatever the hell you want to. But you don’t have to react to every single thing.”
“I think he’s insecure at times.” -Chuck on his exchanges with KD
(via @TaylorRooks)
Barkley is not the first observer to criticize Durant for paying too much attention to outside opinions.
In a 2020 book about the Warriors, Durant is described as someone who is “incapable of ignoring the noise,” according to Gary Peterson of The Mercury News.
“He would frequently squabble in direct-message conversations with the Warriors fans on Twitter, frequently accusing them of favoring Steph at his expense,” read a passage in the book, “The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty,” by Ethan Strauss. “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) said.”
Nets Continue to Climb the Ranks
With their 114-105 win December 2 over the Toronto Raptors, the Nets have a four-game winning streak, their longest of the season. They won two those games without perhaps their best defender, Ben Simmons, who is sidelined with a muscle strain.
A couple of weeks ago, the Nets couldn’t get past the .500 mark and did not look like they could be a threat in a loaded Eastern Conference. But now, they sit comfortably in sixth place in the conference, just 5.5 games out of the top seed with more than half the season left to play.
They will have a big test in their next game on December 4 as the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics come to town, the same team that swept the Nets out of last year’s playoffs in the first round.