Remember how recently Kevin Durant said that he and Russell Westbrook were cool? Well that might not be entirely true.
I was skeptical about it at the time, but eventually just assumed that they had privately sorted out their differences unbeknownst to anyone else.
Now we’re getting word from Russell Westbrook that I was right to be skeptical, because no reconciliation ever happened.
“I haven’t talked to him,” said Westbrook, indicating that there’s really been no change since he last publicly commented on the Durant situation.
What probably happened was that Durant was tired of people asking about how his friendship with Westbrook was, so he gave a simultaneously positive and vague answer to get people off his back.
Westbrook asked if he and Durant are still "cool," as Durant recently said they are: "I haven't talked to him."
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) September 23, 2016
I suppose it’s really none of anyone’s business, and doesn’t have an impact on the actual schematic or statistical side of basketball.
It’s the type of thing that would be on the bottom scroller while watching “E!”, yet clearly people care about it, because each one keeps getting asked about the other.
Sports is just entertainment, after all. Once the nuts and bolts of the actual game action gets dissected, there’s the human element that people would be remiss to gloss over.
Sports tends to be dehumanizing when we equate a player’s worth to statistical impact and plead for teams to cut ties with an underperforming player without much of a thought for the impact of that on a fellow human being, and maybe this is the way that we humanize these mythical figures we anoint on pedestals.
We might not be able to relate to dunking a basketball or making millions of dollars, but who has never had a fight with a really good friend?
Anthony Morrow on Durant leaving: "Like everybody else, just shocked initially. But after a while you get used to it. It is what it is."
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) September 23, 2016
While Westbrook is excited about the new Thunder squad, he admits that it has been difficult coping with the roster upheaval.
“It’s not the same,” said Westbrook. “Just missing Kevin, Dion, Serge, been with Serge the same amount of time. Different guys but I’m happy, ready to start camp with the new guys and embrace the moment.”
The Thunder traded Serge Ibaka to the Magic, which landed them Victor Oladipo, and lost Dion Waiters to the Heat via free agency.
It’s just another reason to make sure not to miss that first game between the Warriors and Thunder on November 3.