Kevin Durant Says He, Russell Westbrook Never Had Beef, Dismisses Cupcake IG Post

Phoenix Suns superstar forward Kevin Durant does not believe Russell Westbrook held any ill will toward him when he left the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors in free agency in 2016.

In an interview with Logan Murdock of The Ringer, KD dismissed the idea that Westbrook took shots at him in the wake of his departure from OKC, saying: "I don't think we was ever in a bad place. I don't think he was throwing shade at me either. I've never really thought that anything Russ was doing was directed at me."

Durant was asked about an infamous Instagram post Westbrook made at the time, which has long been viewed as a jab at KD.

In 2016, Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated reported that the post, which was a picture of some cupcakes, was meant as a criticism of Durant.

Jenkins wrote that Kendrick Perkins used to call some of his Thunder teammates "cupcake" if he felt they were being soft, and that both Durant and Westbrook got a kick out of it and used the term "in jest."

When asked by Murdock if he thought the cupcake post was a shot at him, Durant downplayed it, saying:

"Yeah, even that. I didn't think that was directed at me. And I'm going to stand on that. I don't think we ever had a problem or beef, because beef is deep, man. I didn't get the sense that he was hurt. I just thought that he had an opportunity to get a max deal, super max deal, get an MVP, have his own team. And I thought that he handled that pretty well. And he looked happy doing it."

While Durant signing with the Warriors effectively ended the Thunder's stint as a title contender, both KD and Westbrook benefited from it in different ways.

Durant won a pair of NBA championships with the Dubs, and he was named NBA Finals MVP on both occasions.

Meanwhile, Westbrook won a scoring title and an NBA MVP award, plus he averaged a triple-double in three consecutive seasons after Durant left.

Now, Durant and Westbrook are on opposing sides of a playoff series, as Durant's Suns are facing Westbrook's Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Durant and the Suns hold a 3-1 series lead and can close it out with a win in Game 5 on Tuesday, but Westbrook is averaging 26.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game during the series and has proved to his doubters that he still has plenty left in the tank.

As for Durant, he has been his dominant self with averages of 27.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists per contest.