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NEW YORK, USA – Two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant was called a “coward” who made “the weakest move in NBA history” by former Oklahoma City teammate Kendrick Perkins in an intense Twitter exchange.
Perkins, who played alongside Durant over parts of 5 seasons from 2011 to 2015 before being traded to Utah, ripped Durant for leaving the Thunder in July 2016 to join the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors were coming off an NBA record 73-9 season that ended with a loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. After signing Durant, the Warriors reclaimed the throne in 2017 and 2018 before falling to Toronto last year, when Durant was injured for most of the playoffs.
Durant suffered a torn right Achilles tendon in game 5 of last year’s NBA Finals and departed the Warriors last July to join the Brooklyn Nets, although his injury will keep him out for the entire season.
Perkins, who retired in 2018 and became a television analyst, tweeted that their former teammate Russell Westbrook was the best player in Thunder history, noting “KD lost in the second round without Russ when I was there. So what that mean?”
Durant replied, “Yea and our starting center KendrickPerkins averaged a whopping 2 (points) and 3 (rebounds) during that series. U played hard tho champ lol.”
Yea and our starting center @KendrickPerkins averaged a whopping 2 and 3 during that series. U played hard tho champ lol
Perkins responded with: “Boy stop you did the weakest move in NBA history!!! Up on a team 3-1 in the western conference finals and then go join them the following seasons?! Heart of Champion right there.”
He was referring to the Thunder owning a 3-1 lead on the Warriors in the Western Conference final before losing the last three games and watching Golden State advance to the 2016 finals.
Durant swiped at Perkins for poor production, tweeting, “Weak is starting at center, playing real minutes with no production. Should’ve worked on your skills as much as I did.”
Weak is starting at center, playing real minutes with no production. Should’ve worked on your skills as much as I did
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 10, 2020
That’s when Perkins blasted Durant and questioned how strong his claim should be as an NBA champion after joining such a powerful squad, although Durant was twice named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player while alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in defeats of James-led Cleveland.
“That’s fine!!!” Perkins tweeted. “You worked that hard and still had to go join a 73-9 team. Truth be told you don’t even feel like a real Champ, you have hard time sleeping at night huh knowing that you took the coward way out!!!”
That’s fine!!! You worked that hard and still had to go join a 73-9 team. Truth be told you don’t even feel like a real Champ, you have hard time sleeping at night huh knowing that you took the coward way out!!!
– Rappler.com
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