Kevin Durant has been going at the media now and then recently, his Twitter presence is quite interesting, to say the least. KD responds to fans regularly and seems to enjoy talking hoops as well, but what usually catches the most attention is when he calls out one of the many NBA media personalities that are usually sharing their takes over TV shows or social media platforms.
He recently hit out at Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe, and Skip Bayless in a tweet that featured one of Smith’s takes. SAS had claimed that Michael Jordan hurt the game in some way, and Durant’s tweet suggested that it was people like him, Skip, and Shannon that hurt basketball. He went on to imply later that Sharpe got his basketball takes from Twitter.
He’s funny and a hall of fame football player and will be a hall of fame personality some day but Shannon’s IQ for the game was built by nba twitter lol
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) June 2, 2022
“He’s funny and a hall of fame football player and will be a hall of fame personality some day but Shannon’s IQ for the game was built by NBA twitter lol.”
Well, all these people were unlikely to stay quiet and just let Durant say whatever he likes, and sure enough, Sharpe responded to Durant in a long-winded manner on his show Undisputed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbqyIgdILjA
“I respect KD’s opinion,” Sharpe said. “He can disagree with things that I say on television. I don’t go out of my way to be malicious. My job is to offer an opinion, strong opinion, a strong critique of what I saw. If a guy plays well, I say he played well. If he didn’t play well, I say he didn’t play well.
“The problem that I have with Kevin Durant is that he has this notion because I didn’t play the game of basketball, I played football, that’s where I earned my medals, is that, ‘Well, he gets his NBA knowledge from Twitter.’ No, KD, I was watching games without sound when you was like six.
“Because I got kids damn near your age, and I’ve been watching TV and playing the game damn near as long as you’ve been alive. I think sometimes that he thinks that the criticisms that we levy against some of these players is unfair considering that we didn’t play. All I’m saying is that I’m basing it on what I see.
“That’s the only that I have with Kevin Durant. I got no problem if Kevin Durant doesn’t like some of the things we say. I’m cool with that. That’s his opinion. But where I’m going to push back is that I get my knowledge from Twitter.
“No, I get my knowledge and my understanding from having watched the game for damn near 40-plus years, looking at it and watching and seeing what should happen, and what didn’t happen, and then I give you my opinion on that.”
It’s not exactly an explosive response, and Shannon mostly referred to himself and his knowledge, but there are still some shots at KD in there. While it’s unlikely that Durant and the media will ever really get along with one another, the players having a voice of their own can only be a good thing, considering how long media personalities have gotten away with saying pretty much anything they like unchallenged.
