Tomorrow we'll be seeing Kevin Durant's current and former teams facing off head-to-head for the first time since KD left OKC for the Golden State, and the media-broiled beef between KD and his former teammate Russell Westbrook is on everyone's mind. Striking down such claims head-on, Kevin Durant had some choice words while speaking to The Mercury News. When asked about the nature of his relationship with Westbrook, here's what KD had to say:
"What you want me to do? I love Russ. I don't care what nobody say. I don't care what he say or what the fans say. Like, this is a tough time right now in our relationship. But I love Russ. I love his family. They all know that. I never did anything morally wrong. I never back-stabbed him in real life, never did anything behind his back, never told anyone anything about his character. Never did any of that. I just left teams. I just switched teams. Everyone on the outside is looking at it as, 'Oh, you must not have liked him.' Hell no. C'mon man. Nobody understand that part. I'm trying to find out who I am. He knew who he was. He knew what he wanted to do. He got married young. He met his girlfriend in college. I didn't have none of that. I didn't have two parents in a home with me. I'm still trying to search and find out who I am. We end up going this way (splits arms again) as far as off-the-court personality wise. And that's not a bad thing."
He continued later on to address his thoughts on beef in general:
"It just shows the way of the world right now. Like, a beef? Bro, I don't beef with nobody. I've seen beefs go the wrong way. We've all seen it. The wrong way—real life wrong way, so you can't say beef around me. I'm not into no basketball beef. Where me or Russ comes from (Seat Pleasant, Md. and Los Angeles, respectively), beef—you don't just throw that word around like that. We have a miscommunication going on between a lot of people, a lot of assumptions—you can say that. But a beef? Nah, there ain't no beef man."
Finally, KD articulated his thoughts on Oklahoma City:
"The 405 (Oklahoma City's area code) has a special place in my heart. Those fans, no matter what they call me or how they feel about me, they know, that if you see me anywhere, that you'll feel like I was your friend. That's how you made me feel, and how I made them feel. Those memories are never going to fade. I feel a certain away about that city, that state, that organization. And I look at that as—I'm going to put (those years) on my trophy case. That eight years is going to go in my trophy case. Not in the trash. I'm onto something new. That's just the way of life sometimes."
May KD's words of peace have an impact on Westbrook? Is it really all good?