Kevin Durant Responds to Phil Jackson's Comments on LeBron James' Partners
Like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant is not a fan of Phil Jackson's use of the word "posse" to describe James and his business associates.
Speaking to ESPN.com's Chris Haynes, Durant sympathized with James after the Cleveland Cavaliers forward said he lost respect for Jackson after his interview with ESPN.com's Jackie MacMullan.
"I see why LeBron took offense to it," Durant said. "He doesn't just work on the basketball court; he puts his work in [off of it as well]. He's trying to set himself, his kids, his kid's kids up forever. So doing it for 10-plus years, to not associate what he's done with being an empire, I understand why he took offense to it."
However, Durant stopped short of saying Jackson's words were an indication he is racist.
"I don't think Phil is racist. I think he just used a bad word, and he shouldn't be talking about other players anyway on another team. But I don't think Phil, I don't think he meant it in a bad way, but it sounds like a downgrade to what they really are. I understand why [LeBron] was upset."
On Tuesday, James addressed Jackson's comments.
"If you go and read the definition of what the word 'posse' is, it's not what I've built over my career," James said, according to the Associated Press' Tom Withers (via NBA.com). "It's not what I stand for. It's not what my family stands for."
Before the three-time champion had a chance to condemn Jackson's word choice, his close friend and business partner, Maverick Carter, sent out a tweet indicating he was displeased with how they had been portrayed:
Carter followed up by saying that while he doesn't believe Jackson is racist, he did not like his "disrespectful language."
"I don't believe that Phil Jackson would have used that term if he was doing business with someone else and working with another team or if he was working with anybody in sports that was owning a team that wasn't African-American and had a group of guys around them that didn't agree with what they did," James said, per Withers.
Anthony echoed that sentiment.
"I would never want to hear that word about me and my, I don't want to say crew, but people that I consider family or people that I come up, been through thick and thin with," he said, according to the Bergen Record's Steve Popper. "I'd want to be called a tight-knit group or family. That's what I consider those close people to me."
Jackson has yet to comment on LeBron's response, but his friend, Charley Rosen, told the New York Post's Marc Berman the situation was "such bulls--t" and that the story has been "overblown" and "manufactured."
