Kevin Durant Says Rumors He Was Jealous of Warriors Teammates Are 'Beyond Laughable'
July 17, 2021
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant took to Twitter on Friday afternoon and reignited interest in one of the more bizarre subplots of his time with the Golden State Warriors.
Responding to comments that he was jealous of the stature Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson have in the Bay Area, Durant called the notion "beyond laughable" and blamed The Athletic reporter Ethan Strauss for his role in creating that perception.
Strauss' book The Victory Machine: The Making & Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty is brought up during the back-and-forth on a number of occasions.
The conversation quickly moved to Twitter spaces, where Durant began chatting with Warriors fans about his time in the Bay Area, Strauss and his perceived slights during that era. Notably, Durant did not offer an explanation of his past comments, instead criticizing those who believe Strauss' reporting.
"Ethan Strauss that can form a narrative around me?" Durant said. "That's crazy. That's borderline disrespectful if you believe some s--t like that."
Durant also suggested some Warriors fans may be insecure and project their views onto him.
Golden State added Durant ahead of the 2016-17 season, won back-to-back titles with him in 2017 and 2018 and was on the verge of a third straight title before he injured his Achilles tendon during Game 5 of the 2019 Finals.
Throughout his career, Durant has embraced the use of burner accounts on social media to interact with fans and defend his opinions without attaching his name to those comments. He's not afraid to post on his main account either.
In firing off his tweets Friday, the current Brooklyn star may have reignited the debate about how welcomed he was in Golden State, but he remains unwilling to share his side of the controversy.