Wake up, babe! Skip Bayless has another crazy theory. This one centers on one of his most frequent targets, Kevin Durant, whom Skip is still mad at nine years after he left the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors. Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, but Skip thinks there were ulterior motives at play.
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The Knicks have Spike Lee, the Pacers have Caitlin Clark, and the Thunder, unfortunately, have Skip as their most famous fan. You’d think right now he’d be reveling in the team’s first championship since leaving Seattle, maybe by helping Alex Caruso teach the young Thunder how to pop a bottle of champagne.
But no, Skip is in full hater mode. On the latest episode of The Skip Bayless Show, he accused Kevin Durant of trying to steal the spotlight from his beloved Thunder.
“Kevin bleepin’ Durant,” Skip gravely intoned. “I am now convinced that Kevin Durant pushed to have his trade to Houston announced or leaked on Sunday afternoon to upstage Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City, where, of course, he began his career with said Thunder.”
KD played his rookie season in Seattle with the SuperSonics before the franchise left for OKC. That’s strike one for Skip.
Bayless said Durant’s goal was to leak the trade “so that it would break ahead of Game 7, completely upstaging Game 7, and it worked.” Sure, basketball fans are interested in the Durant news, and it got plenty of airtime, but the game was the main attraction. Strike two.
The Finals were not upstaged by the KD news
The Thunder won their first title in OKC, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became part of a select club to win the regular season MVP, Finals MVP and title all in the same year. Tyrese Haliburton’s injury was the biggest talking point of all, and the resiliency and Cinderella run of the Pacers was given its just due as well.
By ascribing self-centered motives to Durant, Bayless misses the point completely. Durant is the purest hooper in the game. You can criticize his career choices within reason, but he respects the game and the players in it.
KD is chronically online, always ready and willing to engage with anyone who has a take he doesn’t like. Sometimes it’s to his detriment, but more often than not, he makes great points.
What he doesn’t do is tear down his fellow players. He wouldn’t try to upstage SGA or anyone on OKC, and honestly, it would only make him look bad if he tried to steal the spotlight as they were putting the finishing touches on what he, Russell Westbrook and James Harden failed to accomplish.
Skip said, “I believe that Kevin just couldn’t stand it that the Thunder were about to win a championship he failed to win … that’s when he let LeBron outplay him in the 2012 Finals.” Another Bayless misstep. Durant also outplayed LeBron the next two times they met in the Finals, which is why he has two Finals MVPs in his trophy case.
After acquiring Durant, the Rockets are now the second betting favorite behind the Thunder to be NBA champs next year. Skip warned KD, “Be careful what you wish for,” as if Durant’s a guy who has ever wanted to play for anyone other than a contender. That’s why he wanted out of Phoenix, because they were a mess.
It’s a bad combination to be both a homer and a hater. In his mind, Bayless is just giving the people what they want, but it doesn’t work. Strike three.
