The Los Angeles Lakers registered their first In-Season Tournament win with a 122-119 victory against the Phoenix Suns on Friday. LeBron James led the scoring for the Lakers with a dominant 32-11-6 performance, completely ignoring the fact that he is about to turn 39 next month. On the other hand, Kevin Durant scored 38 points to keep the Devin Booker-less Suns in competition till the end of the contest. However, the two legends’ casual interaction on the court became an issue after the game ended.
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After the game, the Phoenix Suns posted a photograph on X(formerly Twitter) of LeBron James and Kevin Durant sharing a cordial moment on the court with the caption, ‘Respect’. In the picture, the two friends could be seen smiling at each other while having a casual chat. However, this apparently harmless picture ended up disappointing some fans, who thought the friendship between the two prevented KD from going all out against Bron during the game.
One user even brought up Michael Jordan, claiming that Durant never had the killer mentality that was innate in Jordan. The X handle named 514TOTHECORE wrote, “I hate this ‘we all fiends’ laughing during the game sh*t!! It’s time to go to work, kill these mofos and keep your for on their necks. THIS IS 1 of the reason why MJ23 is the MJ23 simply killed EVERYONE IN SIGHT!”
Kevin Durant, who has a reputation of arguing with fans on the Internet, responded with a tweet of his own. “At some point, yall non athletes gon realize that friends compete harder against one another,” wrote KD. The two-time NBA Champion made it clear that just because he is sharing a light-hearted moment with someone on the court doesn’t mean he doesn’t go all out against his opponents during the game.
Jordan’s opponent in the 1993 NBA Finals, another Phoenix Suns legend, Charles Barkley, had to face similar criticism after his team lost the series to the Chicago Bulls. Barkley was friends with MJ at the time and the duo used to gamble and play golf together all the time. However, Barkley had the same response to the accusation. Athletes know how to separate friendship from work and give it their absolute best against anybody and everybody.
The friendship and rivalry between LeBron James and Kevin Durant
The friendship between LeBron James and Kevin Durant is somewhat unusual provided that the two of them have been touted as the two competing forces vying for the ‘best player’ tag in the NBA for over a decade. However, the two of them have always shared an amicable relationship, never going out of their way to bash each other.
KD has faced criticism in the past as well for his friendship with Bron. But the Slim Reaper has always dismissed such notions. In fact, KD once said, “People see two young black basketball players at the top of their game and think we should clash. They want the conflict. They want the hate…A friend was getting on me about this recently, and I said, ‘Calm down. I’m not taking it easy on him. Don’t you know I’m trying to destroy the guy every time I go on the court?”
Durant has even compared his rivalry with Bron to Bird and Magic. According to the 2014 NBA MVP, while it’s true that LBJ always inspires him to better himself, that doesn’t mean he shows any mercy against him on the hardwood.
