Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant has been the subject of a rather large debate since he left the Oklahoma City Thunder for his current team last July. Did Durant sell out? Should he have remained in Oklahoma City to continue building something special?
Ultimately, Durant chose the two-time defending conference champions over his old team — one that Golden State defeated in the Western Conference Finals last spring.
In his first game as a member of the Warriors, Durant interacted with former Los Angeles Lakers great James Worthy. For Durant, it was amazing being able to have a conversation with one of his childhood idols. A Hall of Famer.
“He was like: ‘Man. Don’t worry about that stuff. People change jobs every single year, every single day. Don’t worry about that. Just go out there and keep working and go win,’” Durant said, via The Mercury News. “So I’m like: ‘Man that’s nice.’”
Durant seemed to be really happy about the conversation on his flight back to Oakland following the preseason game. To him, one of the greatest players of a generation showed support for what Durant himself was going through.
This is when it gets a bit disturbing. Once Durant returned to Northern California, he told a friend about the interaction. At that point, Durant was given another side to Mr. Worthy — the public side.
“So I came back home that night and my boy Randy (Williams) — I was like: ‘Man. James Worthy was cool. He showed me so much love. I appreciate that,’” Durant said. “(Randy) was like: ‘Huh? He was talking so bad about you on TV. He was saying Magic wouldn’t have done that. I wouldn’t have done that.’ I was like, yo, stop selling out. Stop selling your brothers out. This is a fraternity. Stop selling us out for NBA TV, Turner Sports, ESPN, stop doing that man and then come in my face talking that nonsense.”
To be clear, that is pretty shady of Worthy. Telling Durant something privately, only to reverse course completely when the television cameras are focused in on him. Durant has every reason to be upset. Then again, maybe this will act as a learning experience. There are two-faced people out there. Just make sure you recognize them before it’s too late.