It’s been quite the week in the NBA. The most active NBA trade deadline in history is over, with 63 players changing teams, including a bunch of stars. Luka Doncic is a Laker, Anthony Davis is a Mav, De’Aaron Fox is a Spur, Zach LaVine is a King, Jimmy Butler is a Warrior, Brandon Ingram is a Raptor, among many others.
There were also some stars that got mentioned in trades that did not get moved, most notably Kevin Durant, who reportedly shut down trade talks between the Suns and Warriors after making clear he had no interest in going back to the Bay. With the Suns off and Durant coming up in rumors throughout the day until the very last minute of the deadline, we didn’t expect to hear much from KD, but something caught the eye of the future Hall of Famer on Twitter that he could not let slide without comment.
On ESPN’s NBA Today trade deadline special, they were talking about what the Suns needed to bring the team together and figure things out for the closing stretch of the season. Udonis Haslem and Kendrick Perkins were discussing the need for a team meeting, but questioned whether they had the kind of guy on that team that would be the vocal leader and command the respect to get guys in line. In that discussion, Perkins stated that in Oklahoma City it wasn’t KD, Russell Westbrook, or James Harden that took that role, but himself (and Nick Collison).
Durant got wind of that and had to shut it down, calling it “the craziest sh*t I’ve seen all week”, while admitting that is a high bar to clear.
KD has grown tired of the leadership questions in recent years, as he’s gotten into spats with Charles Barkley and Stephen A. Smith about their critiques of him as a leader. Now that his former teammate waded into those waters as well, KD wasn’t about to let it slide, and despite a pretty wild deadline week for himself personally, he wanted to make sure people knew Perk was exaggerating his role.