Two NBA legends have sounded off on stars of today like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Calling them coddled athletes always looking for an out when things get difficult with their teams.
This year’s NBA trade deadline was far more eventful than many expected. For weeks, players like OG Anunoby and D’Angelo Russell were the most notable names on the trade block. Then in just a matter of days, a pair of superstar talents were shipped off to make a couple of Western Conference teams. Making them title contenders.
Related: Kevin Durant gets emotional talking about Nets tenure – It was terrible how stuff went
The Brooklyn Nets trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant before Feb. 9 caused a major shift in the 2023 NBA season. However, it was also just the latest installment of the league’s tradition of top stars looking for ways out of challenging situations. It was something Hall-of-Famer and current TNT NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal took a shot at during a media scrum ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend.
“Sometimes you have to look at yourself. I did a lot of crazy stuff but at the end of it all, I knew my mother was watching. I tried to keep it professional. So if I did go off the hook a lot of it was marketing … When you ask to go somewhere and it don’t work out, it’s not always somebody else’s fault. I was raised different. My father didn’t play the excuses thing.”
– Shaquille O’Neal (h/t Ben Golliver)
Charles Barkley bashes integrity of players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving
Fellow Hall-of-Famer and TNT star Charles Barkley took it a step further when he ripped the integrity of today’s NBA stars. Claiming they don’t play in consecutive games, can’t take verbal abuse from fans, and their primadonna nature will lead to some major trouble when it comes time for NBA owners and players to negotiate a new CBA.
“Y’all baby these dudes so much today. They don’t want to play back-to-back games. Every time a fan says something, they get them tossed. If they’re not happy, they want to get traded. It’s going to come to a head in the next CBA.”
– Charles Barkley
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will both be a part of this year’s NBA All-Star Game, which goes down this Sunday in Utah.