mobile app bar

“Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan started it!”: Kevin Durant makes a controversial claim about the 80s legends starting a culture of NBA brotherhood

Raahib Singh
Published

"Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan started it!": Kevin Durant makes a controversial claim about the 80s legends starting a culture of NBA brotherhood

Nets’ star Kevin Durant brings up a controversial claim about Michael Jordan, uses it as a defense for the current NBA culture.

Kevin Durant is one of the best scorers in the league, if not the best. The Slim Reaper has been a dominating force in the NBA ever since his rookie year.  He has constantly wowed everyone with his performances.

KD is a 2x NBA Champion, 2x NBA Finals MVP, a former league MVP, 11x NBA All-Star. His list of accolades does not end here. However, a lot of people would ridicule and claim his championships don’t count as he joined a strong Warriors’ team to win them.

Also Read: “James Harden is my big brother, we talk a lot”: Kevin Porter Jr. opens up on his relationship with the Nets megastar

KD is now in Brooklyn, and is in the race for another ring, alongside his friends James Harden and Kyrie Irving. A lot of former players have been very critical of current players being friends off the court. The older generation players claim they would have never done the same. They don’t get the need for the current ones to do the same.

Kevin Durant bring up Michael Jordan, claims the friend culture was started then

Kevin Durant, in one of the recent episodes of ETCs, defends his generation over the friendship culture. Durant claims it was a practice started by former athletes like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan.

He said, “The Magics, The Birds, The Jordans, they created that brotherhood amongst the league.”

Also Read: “LeBron James gets another big break”: Skip Bayless releases controversial take on Lakers star’s MVP chances following Joel Embiid injury

Durant does have a strong point there. Off-court friendships in the league started when Magic and Bird did their infamous Converse commercial.

Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were also very good friends off the court. However, the friendship took an ugly turn when Barkley had a controversial statement about Hornet’s front office on the air.

In my opinion, the friendship off the court, but the rivalry on the court is what makes the current day NBA so interesting to watch. When one watches players like Dame Lillard and Steph Curry being friends off the court, but then go against each other on the court, it makes the game much more interesting.

About the author

Raahib Singh

Raahib Singh

x-iconlinkedin-icon

Raahib Singh is an NBA Journalist and Content Strategist at The SportsRush. A Computer Science Engineer by qualification, Raahib's passion for sports drew him towards TSR. He started playing basketball at 14 and has been following the NBA since 2013. His entry into the basketball world perfectly coincided with Stephen Curry putting the league on notice. Having followed the league for a long time, he decided to use his knowledge to become a sportswriter with The SportsRush in 2020. Raahib loves to put up some shots in his spare time, watch Cricket, Formula 1, and/or read a nice thriller.

Share this article