During the OKC-Mavs playoffs series in 2016, Mark Cuban stated that Kevin Durant was a superstar, and Russell Westbrook wasn’t.
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Way before Kevin Durant joined Stephen Curry and co. at the Golden State Warriors and instantly became the most hated figure in the league, The Durantula spent 9 years with the Seattle SuperSonic/Oklahoma City Thunder. During his almost decade-long stint with the Thunder, KD was teammates with several players. However, one of the greatest players he paired up with was Russell Westbrook.
KD and Russ had a solid brother-like bond, before turning into enemies after the former’s move to GSW. The two were inseparable off the court and were near unstoppable on the hardwood.
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This one time, the 2014 MVP displayed his love for Beastbrook by defending him from Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban.
During the 2016 playoffs, Cuban wasn’t ready to call Russell a “superstar”, to which Kevin went on to call the billionaire an “idiot”.
“I consider Kevin Durant a superstar, Russell Westbrook is certainly an All-Star”: Mark Cuban
Before Game 5 of OKC’s playoffs series, Mark Cuban reasoned why he didn’t consider Westbrook a “superstar”. Cuban told the reporter:
“I think he’s (Westbrook) an All-Star but not a superstar.”
“Russell’s certainly an All-Star, but I consider Durant a superstar. You look at Dirk all those years to now, he carries teams to 50 wins. To me, that’s (what makes a superstar) … when you by yourself … it wasn’t until we got J-Kidd (Jason Kidd) that we had another Hall of Famer. So, to go the 15 years where Dirk won 50, that’s a superstar. There’s only a few guys that you put them on any team and they’ll win 50 games. To me that’s the definition of a superstar.”
When asked Westbrook to give two cents on Cuban’s take, Durant stepped in, and defended his teammate by calling Cuban an “idiot”. KD said:
“He’s an idiot. Don’t listen to him.”
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Mark’s words surely must’ve set Russ off, as ended the night with an explosive 36-point, 12-rebound, and 9-assist near triple-double leading the Thunder to a 118-104 Game 5 win.
