Kevin Durant Says Phone Hacked After Leaked Smoking Pic

Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant had a simple explanation for why he would decide to tweet a picture of himself smoking what he said is a hookah.

He wasn't the one who sent it out (h/t Deadspin's Samer Kalaf).

KD dialed up the old my-phone-was-hacked excuse (tweets have since been deleted):

Anytime someone slips up on Twitter—which by my calculations is about once every 3.7 seconds—this is almost always the first step in damage control.

Really, it's a method that predates Twitter. Call it the Bart Simpson defense.

But Durant's persistence should have us thinking twice about our eye-rolling response:

He also has an eye witness—teammate Nick Collison—corroborating his story:

Durant didn't have to do any of this.

He could be just the second player (along with injured Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose) in the last six seasons to claim LeBron James' MVP throne. He's afforded certain luxuries enjoyed by only the best of the best:

He's not hiding from the fact that it is him in the picture. He's just pointing out that he's smart enough to understand that not everything needs to be shared on Twitter:

There's no reason not to believe him.

After all, this isn't the first we've heard (or seen, rather) about his occasional smoking habit. He's 25 years old and free to live his life however he sees fit.

Now, someone could argue that perhaps smoking isn't the best pastime for a professional athlete.

But when KD is once again pacing the league in scoring (29.5 points per game) and nearly posting another 50/40/90 campaign (.489/.396/.887 shooting slash), it's hard to question anything that he's doing.

Maybe this alleged hacker did find a way past KD's security protection. Funny, since he's been in the league for seven seasons and defenses still can't figure him out.