The 2016-17 NBA season is officially over. With the NBA Award Show in the books, teams and players can start looking ahead to next season. Unlike years prior, the NBA decided to switch things up a bit and hand out the individual player and coaches awards after the NBA Finals. So we are just getting used to this format where all the award winners are announced on the same day.
Some people liked it, others didn’t, but it doesn’t seem like the NBA is going to go back to the old style any time soon. As the awards were being announced during the live telecast on TNT, players and fans around the world took to social media to congratulate the recipients and comment on the first ever NBA award show.
One particular Warrior waited until the next day to give his thoughts on this year’s award winners. Kevin Durant went on his YouTube channel and wrote a little bit about all the big winners and even included Russell Westbrook. While the two had a bad break-up, Durant still acknowledged that Westbrook had an incredible season and congratulated his former teammate.
Here’s the full comment from Durant on Westbrook via Youtube:
In fact, I called out this years MVP years ago so you gotta respect my knowledge for the game lol. Huge congrats to Russell Westbrook on MVP, that boy went out there and was a created player on 2k all year, Fuckin balled out. Gotta respect it!
Everybody was waiting to see if Durant would comment on Westbrook being named MVP and he didn’t disappoint. Durant put everything aside and gave his former teammate the props that he deserved. While the both are not close friends like they used to be, you can genuinely tell that Durant is happy for Westbrook, although that might have seemed impossible a few months back.
Would have Westbrook done the same? Probably not, but Durant just set a great example for the younger generation that sportsmanship should still be a part of the game. We all love competition, but in this case Westbrook has earned the praise and regardless of what team you play for or root for, you should be able to tip your hat and appreciate that this man just averaged a triple double for an entire NBA season.