Durant: Public feud with Westbrook is 'fake drama'
The fake news poisoning the political realm has carried over to sports, according to Kevin Durant.
With his long-awaited OKC return on the horizon, Durant sat down with ESPN's Marc Stein to discuss his former team and the running storyline of his feud with ex-running mate Russell Westbrook.
"I realized that earlier on in the season," Durant said, calling the entire ordeal "fake drama."
"I was doing an interview with someone and I used the word 'unselfish' to describe my teammates here (with) the Warriors and someone asked Russell the question, asked if he heard what I said about being unselfish and he phrased the question as if I was saying that the Thunder and the organization and the team was selfish. And once I heard that, I was like, 'They are trying to get in between this thing and make it bigger than what it is.'
"Obviously Russell wasn't going to hear that (full) interview I had about me just talking about my teammates I have now and someone in Oklahoma City phrased it to him as if I was calling them selfish. It's that easy. It's that easy for the media to twist something up and for the media, you know, (to) make a feud between us."
Words have certainly been twisted in the ongoing Durant-Westbrook melodrama. Reports have emerged concerning whether the two are on speaking terms or whether they've exchanged texts, while gallons of ink have been spilled on reading into their largely non-existent exchanges.
Durant's innocuous comments about the Warriors were relayed to Westbrook to elicit a response to make a story. Westbrook wearing a photographer's bib was spun as a shot towards Durant. An excited yelp by Westbrook in practice following Durant's loss on Christmas was interpreted as another jab. Even Instagram photos depicting cupcakes have been dissected for hidden meaning.
Related - Westbrook: 'I'm not answering any more Kevin (Durant) questions'
Durant and Westbrook are of one mind on this: they're annoyed at a story being forced upon them that isn't necessarily there.