In the NBA world, the 2010s were marked by a significant rivalry story between LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. Both teams met eye-to-eye in the NBA Finals. The competition sparked flares when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors in their third NBA Finals meeting with the Cavaliers. During that time, the debate of who was the best between LeBron James and Kevin Durant was at its peak. However,$25,000,000 worth Durant in 2018, shrugged off the debate.
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During an interview in December 2018, Kevin Durant expressed his irritation to the media. He felt as if many media members fawned over LeBron, which creates a toxic environment for the rest of his teammates. His annoyance lay in the fact that the media would dive in so much into non-basketball-related stuff. He ended with a rhetorical question as to why would anyone want to play with LeBron with such fake attention.
Kevin Durant hilariously denied any claims of rivalry debate
In ‘The Ringer‘ interview in 2018, Durant was invited as a guest with Bill Simmons hosting it. They were discussing the league when they shifted to a LeBron-Durant debate. Simmons questioned Durant for hanging out with LeBron James and referred to him as the ‘enemy’. Durant scoffed at the notion and said that he did not see it that way. He clarified,
“With the enemy? How?….. was that change? if we got, what’s that change? Like so you want me to go to bed thinking about ‘Man F*** LeBron James.'”
As the conversation proceeded and Simmons tried to press the debate, Durant didn’t want any part of it. He proceeded to call them ‘blog boys’ and especially told them that no mind games were going on between them. He remarked,
“Y’all gotta stop trying to figure out this mental stuff man yeah. You cannot figure out what people are thinking man. You’re not good. You’re not that good. Y’all blog boys. You’re not that good to figure out what people thinking man. Stop acting like you know what is going on in people’s head. You don’t.”
It was understandable that Durant did not want to spill his beans. The interview had taken place on March 2018 so it was only a few months before the NBA Finals. Unsurprisingly, Durant and the Warriors demolished the Cavaliers in four games, with Durant hitting a Game 3 dagger over LeBron James.
Kevin Durant did not want to team up with LeBron James
Forming a superteam with the Golden State Warriors, Durant won two championships along with two-finals MVP. In 2018, on The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Durant was presented with a hypothetical situation of forming a team with LeBron James. He stated that he has no interest in changing sides,
“I just don’t think that would happen man. I don’t even want to go there, you know. Somebody is listening and is going to write something. I’ll stay on my side.”
Despite being pitted together many times, Durant made sure to not reveal any secrets. His unwillingness to even team up with LeBron displayed his intentions to compete. Given that they are among the best in the NBA, it is fun for the fans to continue witnessing their greatness while they butted heads.
