Kevin Durant has recently established a reputation as a critic of the media. He most recently went on a short rant about coverage of aging star Kobe Bryant during a season in which he’s struggled. Now, the Oklahoma City Thunder star is lashing out at the media for its lack of coverage on his team.
Speaking to ESPN’s Royce Young, Durant had the following to say about why the Thunder are not being mentioned among the elite teams in the NBA:
“Man, the media and experts are always trying to nitpick us,” Kevin Durant told ESPN.com. “I mean, they don’t like us. They don’t like how Russell [Westbrook] talks to the media, they don’t like how I talk to the media. So obviously, yeah, they’re not going to give us the benefit of the doubt.
“Especially since we’ve been together so long. Some of these teams are new, except for the Spurs, who have won. But we haven’t won and we’ve still got the same core, so they don’t expect us to win. It is what it is, who cares about them. They don’t mean nothing, the critics. Their opinions, everybody has one, but we don’t really care about them. Every day we’re just going to keep grinding this thing out. We feel like we can compete with anybody.”
I can understand some of what Durant is saying. His teammate, Russell Westbrook has a bad reputation with the media (probably a well-deserved one) and there is certainly a chance he has made some “enemies” within that fraternity. But everything else Durant is saying is mostly off base.
For one, Durant is one of the most positively-covered athletes in the world. Outside of his crusades against the media, no one has ever had any criticism for the star forward. That includes the media which has often billed him as the second best player in the world playing for a perennial title contender. The reason the Thunder are not being mentioned as often as other teams is not some sort of vendetta from the media. Instead, it’s about there existing one contender in the Eastern Conference and two teams with single digit losses in the Western Conference. The Thunder are certainly up there with the best teams in the league, but at this point in time, they are clearly a tier below the combination of the Warriors, Spurs, and Cavaliers in terms of their ability to win a title.
Having said that, I don’t really have a problem with Durant saying this. Him believing those ideas is not hurtful to anyone and if it sparks a fire under him and the team to try to prove everyone wrong, then it is a great strategy. Do you, KD.
