Getty Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant greets Stephen Curry before a game against the Golden State Warriors.
In addition to being arguably the best basketball player on the planet, Kevin Durant has a strong case for being the most savvy athlete on social media – or at least the most entertaining.
The Nets superstar, with his 19.2 million followers on Twitter and 12.2 million followers on Instagram, is a must-follow for any sports fan. And he proved why again recently.
This time, Durant stirred the pot more with his actions than his words. Durant liked an Instagram post that featured an exchange between former Nets guard Mike James and a Twitter user in which James argued that Kyrie Irving is a more skilled player than Steph Curry.
Irving, of course, is Durant’s current teammate; the duo and James Harden make up Brooklyn’s Big Three. Curry, meanwhile, is Durant’s former teammate; the pair won two championships together with the Golden State Warriors between in 2017 and 2018.
“I can’t lie to y’all. Kyrie Irving prolly deserve to be on this list (of the most skilled scorers of all time). James harden gotta argument too,” James tweeted. Sideline Sources on Instagram then took a screenshot of James’ tweet and the subsequent interaction with a Twitter user.
“So you gonna argue for Kyrie but not for Steph?” the Twitter user replied. “Oh, that’s right you never played with Steph. You are the definition of biased.”
That’s when James held his ground.
“Kyrie more skilled then Steph,” James wrote. “Steph just shoot better. Everything is in kyrie favor skill wise. But whatever you say fam.”
A “like” on Instagram isn’t exactly a screaming endorsement, but at least in this instance, Durant seems to agree James’ thinking by liking the post.
Kevin Durant “likes” post of exchange between Mike James and twitter user in which James argues Kyrie is more skilled than Curry, and that Curry just “shoot better”.
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Durant Has Influence on Nets Roster
As arguably the best player in the world, Durant’s thoughts on roster construction hold significant weight. The opinions of Irving and Harden also matter. Nets GM Sean Marks explained as much during a media session last month.
“Those three are incredibly talented without a doubt,” Marks said, per NBA.com. “We’re very fortunate to have those guys on the roster and also participating in — and we talk about this a lot — participating in the roster build. There’s no surprises for them. They knew what we were doing as we go through the first three, four, five days of free agency. And it’s not just those guys. We involve a lot of the players in these decisions because with their up-close and personal playing against these guys, who am I to tell them who can’t play and who’s better? I’ve gotta take their opinions and I enjoy those conversations, honest conversations. We don’t always agree, but at the same time, I think it’s great to have those conversations.”
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Durant Shines Brightest on World’s Biggest Stage
Durant’s 29-point effort in Team USA’s gold medal game to conclude the Tokyo Olympics last month came on the heels of 30-point games in each of his previous two gold medal games, in 2012 and 2016.
Damian Lillard summed it up best: “He (Durant) is the best player in the world,” he said, per Yahoo.
Durant, meanwhile, said his mindset was to simply leave it all on the court with a gold medal on the line.
“It’s winning time,” Durant said, per NBA.com. “It’s one game where you go home, it’s no series. I’ve gotta give my all every second I’m out there and I prepare the right way. I’ve just gotta go out there and trust that work. I was able to knock down some shots to keep us afloat a little bit. In the fourth quarter (Damian Lillard) took over for us and guys made plays at the end.”
Overcame obstacles. Got it done.
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