Unsurprisingly, Kevin Durant remains a ride-or-die friend to Brooklyn Nets teammate Kyrie Irving and was not a fan of how the team and the media handled the controversy surrounding his support for a documentary film considered antisemitic.
The focus of the NBA spotlight has been on the Brooklyn Nets over the last week. It all started last week with a random tweet by Irving that showed support for a movie filled with antisemitic tropes and came to a head yesterday with the team’s suspension of their superstar guard for at least the next five games.
The controversy has captured the imagination of people in and outside the NBA sphere. It has garnered the condemnation of NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the support of counter-culture hip-hop star Kanye West. However, one person not happy with the incident’s coverage is former NBA MVP, Kevin Durant.
Also read: Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving seen as too radioactive to be traded
On Friday, before the Brooklyn Nets game against the Washington Wizards, Durant blamed the media for spinning the Irving situation around the basketball news cycle endlessly over the last few days.
“This is the way the NBA is now, media, so many outlets now and their stories hit pretty fast now. So that’s where all the chaos is coming from. Everybody has an opinion on the situation, and we’re hearing it nonstop.”
– Kevin Durant (via New York Post’s Brian Lewis)
Kevin Durant blasts Brooklyn Nets for stance on Kyrie Irving’s situation
Yet the 12-time All-Star didn’t stop there. His deep friendship with Irving has been well-documented and it should come as no surprise he doesn’t have any ill will toward his teammates for the drama he’s caused. Instead, he wishes the Nets would have just “kept quiet as an organization” when all the trouble started.
- Kevin Durant stats (2022): 32.5 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4,4 APG, 1.0 SPG
“I’m not here to judge somebody or talk down on the life or how they feel their views. I just didn’t like anything that went on. I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I just don’t like none of it.”
– Kevin Durant
After the infamous and since deleted tweet by Irving, the Nets owner Joe Tsai publicly questioned his star for the post. He wasn’t the only one, and it’s since led to a donation to the Anti-Defamation League by Irving, a suspension, and a too-little-too-late apology on Thursday night.
Kevin Durant and the Nets face the Wizards in Washington tonight at 7 PM ET.