Tag: kevin durant

Everyone is talking about Michael Jordan again because ESPN released the first two episodes of ‘The Last Dance’, their documentary series on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls last Sunday. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the two superstars of the Brooklyn Nets are among the players that have been influenced by Jordan throughout their careers. Both have had a lot to say about MJ.

 

Averaging 6.1 million viewers, the series premiere episodes of #TheLastDance are the most-viewed ESPN documentary content ever

Across ESPN & ESPN2:
🏀 Episode 1 averaged 6.3M viewers
🏀 Episode 2 averaged 5.8M viewers

More: https://t.co/TKBJUcqsjV pic.twitter.com/LRGfkaVWSW

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 20, 2020

When comparing Michael Jordan to current NBA superstars, two points are brought up. First, that defense was more physical in Michael Jordan’s era and the game was slower, which made it harder to score and then, that today’s athletes are better and that Jordan shot just 32.7 percent from beyond the arc in his career and the current NBA relies too much on 3-point shooting. Believe it or not, many “experts” think that Jordan would not thrive in today’s NBA.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to return for playoffs? The delay to the NBA season could make Irving and Durant return. Irving and KD were both assumed out for the season but if the suspension because of COVID-19 concerns continues for too long, the team could consider taking a chance and letting Irving and Durant play once the season resumes.

The Nets are seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. Irving underwent a procedure on his right shoulder in late February. He had missed 26 games earlier in the season because of this same injury and he evaluated all options during his lengthy recovery period but coming back ended up being even more costly for the talented point guard.

Durant, who signed a four-year, $164 million deal with the Nets in the offseason, suffered an Achilles injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals in June against the Raptors when he was still with the Warriors and he hasn’t made his Nets debut.

Irving was asked about the comparisons between Michael Jordan and LeBron James and this is what he told Hot 97 in 2018: 

“All those comparisons are fun to talk about. It’s how intense it gets,” Irving said. “I hope that some individuals see, when they’re watching the games, just the appreciation for what’s happening. Like if someone is playing extremely well, and it’s just like comparisons… Shout out to my man [Boston head coach] Brad Stevens on this. He told me, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ And that right there was one of the most profound things I’ve ever heard.”

He then shared his opinion on whether James had reached Jordan status by saying a simple, yet effective “nah.”

Durant recently talked to ESPN’s Jay Williams on “The Boardroom” and said: 

“He can adapt his game to anything,” Durant explained. “He would fit in as the best player in the league. That’s what he would be. He would have more possessions to do more things. More space for M.J. to go to work. We’ll never know, but for sure he’s a masterful basketball player, and like we’ve been saying his skill level is unmatched.”

Will the NBA return this season somehow? Will they skip the rest of the regular season and go straight to the playoffs? Will the games be played on neutral courts without fans? No one has the answers to these questions right now and it’s even harder to tell if Irving and/or Durant would be willing to risk it all by playing earlier than expected without having as much recovery time as they probably should have.

One thing is certain though, the NBA Playoffs could be played around the date that the 2020-21 season was supposed to start and if Irving and Durant come back for them the Nets would be a very scary opponent.

Going back to MJ, Irving, Durant and many of us as kids tried to emulate Michael Jordan’s iconic “tongue wag” while playing basketball with friends but we never knew where it came from and why he started doing it. It turns out that Michael Jordan got the idea from his father, after watching him stick out his tongue while fixing things around the house. Intentionally or subconsciously he started doing the same while playing basketball.

You also might not know that he actually admired Magic Johnson. Jordan and Magic had a big rivalry on the court, especially in the 1991 NBA Finals when MJ and the Bulls beat Magic and the Lakers but Jordan’s childhood idol was Magic Johnson.

In just about one month, Knicks fans went from cocky as hell back to scared as fuck. Everything seemed lined up for a huge off-season.

We were going around, spewing nonsense like “KD and Kyrie are locks to sign with us” and “we’re about to get Zion with that number one overall pick in the draft.”

I don’t know how the fan base of a team with such a terrible recent history of poor management could become so delusional, so quickly. I can’t lie though, I took part in that delusion.

Let's check in on Knicks fans: pic.twitter.com/dNFSXgjAQt

— SportsNation (@SportsNation) June 15, 2019

After months of lying to ourselves and thinking that things would get better, it’s time to snap back to reality.

We didn’t get the 1st pick in the draft. We thought we were about to get a repeat of the 1985 draft when the lottery was rigged to give the Knicks the opportunity to draft Pat Ewing. Zion, our savior, will not be playing at MSG next. Shoutout to everyone who bought a Williamson jersey before the draft lottery was even announced.

Since last July, Knicks fans have been bragging about how Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were going to sign with the team this offseason. Everything seemed to be pointing to this. Kyrie bought a house in Jersey, KD moved his venture capital headquarters to NYC.

https://twitter.com/Hat3James/status/1138273517085057024

Then, our worst fears came true. Reports broke that Kyrie was leaning towards signing with the Nets and that seems like a foregone conclusion at this point. With Kyrie most likely heading to BK, fear started to creep in that KD might follow him there.

Delusional Knicks fans kept their faith. We just needed KD to get through the Finals, sign with the Knicks, and convince Kyrie that Brooklyn wasn’t the move.

Then the Achilles ruptured. Bruhhhhhh…

Update on #Knicks free agency after KD confirmed he tore his ACL pic.twitter.com/hdGq75Ndyk

— mark chud (@ChudnovskiMark) June 12, 2019

Dreams of building the next super team in the Mecca essentially went out the window. How the hell are the Knicks supposed to be the next best thing in the NBA if our potential new star player is going to be out all next season?

So with KD’s health in question, Knicks fans focused their hope in another superstar looking to leave his current team — Anthony Davis. Those dreams were shot down quickly when the Pelicans agreed to trade him to the Lakers to team up with LeBron James.

Okay, so all of that didn’t happen to work out in the Knicks favor, but there are still plenty of other free agent options to sign. Kemba Walker was a standout talent at Rice High School in NYC. He could be brought back to the mecca. But then he said he would take a pay cut to stay in Charlotte.

Knicks fans wanted KD, Zion, Kyrie, and AD. If they end up with Andrew Wiggins it’d be the most Knicks thing ever pic.twitter.com/iQSmfc1J1P

— HOLLYWOOD 🏆 (@_CB23_) June 18, 2019

That leaves us with the options of Kawhi Leonard, who doesn’t seem to have any interest in the Knicks. Klay Thompson, who will probably stay with Golden State. Or Jimmy Butler, who apparently wreaks havoc in every locker room he enters.

Damn, maybe there aren’t any options available to Knicks fans.

It looks like we’re poised for another disappointing season. It’ll be more heartbreak and telling ourselves “it’ll get better next year.” Here’s to hoping management doesn’t completely screw things up and screw us over for ten more years of misery.

Let us just pray for RJ Barrett… that is if the Knicks don’t fuck that up too.

The Golden State Warriors are heading back to the NBA Finals to face LeGoat and the Cavaliers for the fourth consecutive year.

And while the Dubs’ on-court success has drawn comparisons to some of the greatest teams to lace them up, it’s the Warriors’ off-court success that has set them apart.

The Bay Area is more than just a home for Dub Nation’s rendezvous fan-base; it’s home to the burgeoning tech scene and booming startup culture entrenched in Silicon Valley.

NBA players such as Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Andre Iguodala have made headlines for their respective pivots from athletes turned investors.

But after a closer look into the Warriors’ off-court endeavors, there’s no denying the influence Silicon Valley commands in Golden State.

Joe Lacob, Warriors’ Majority Owner

Joe Lacob, one of Golden State’s majority owners, is a veteran venture capitalist from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Considering both his reputation as a seasoned investor and his active engagement with the Warriors, it’s no surprise that the rest of the Golden State family takes after Lacob’s penchant for investing.

After all, Lacob did prove his commitment to investing when he initially bought the dismal Warriors for a record-breaking $450 million back in 2010. Under Lacob’s ownership, the Warriors have had a meteoric rise to international stardom.

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Peter Guber, Warriors’ Owner

Even though Guber has a smaller share compared to that of Lacob’s, he was granted equal standing within the franchise.

Guber, the former Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, currently sits as the Chairman and CEO of the multimedia Mandalay Entertainment Group.

With Lacob’s capitalist experience acting as financial guidance and Guber’s cultural perspective rounding out the partnership, the Golden State Warriors are just built differently.

Together, they hired a general manager who had no experience in the sports industry and two coaches who hadn’t coached on any level, let alone a professional one.

But after two rings, a fourth trip to the Finals, and the Warriors’ estimated net worth of $3 billion, it’s clear Lacob and Guber have appropriately invested their money within the Silicon Valley environment.

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Stephen Curry

Hailed as the greatest shooter to ever grace the court, two-time MVP Steph Curry is taking full advantage of his NBA stardom, particularly off-the-court.

The fact that Curry gets to perform in front of CEOs, founders and presidents every home game definitely helps.

Regardless, the Baby Faced Assassin owns an equity stake in CoachUp, a start-up that connects private coaches with athletes all around the world.

Plus, in 2015, he co-founded a tech start-up, Slyce, with his old college teammate Bryant Barr. Curry has also recently backed Brandless, a start-up that aims to provide affordable household items.

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Andre Iguodala

Even though he’s nursing a leg contusion that will force him to miss Game 1 of the 2018 Finals, Iguodala is still winning, as he cashes in from the savvy investments he’s made in his time in Oakland.

In addition to his investments in Facebook, Twitter, and Tesla, the Warriors forward has also backed Arianna Huffington’s new company Thrive Global, a health and beauty startup by Walker & Company, as well as Derek Jeter’s platform for athletes, The Player’s Tribune, among other companies. Iguodala tells CNBC,

“We have some great relationships with VCs [venture capitalists] out there, mainly Andreessen Horowitz. They’ve kind of taken me under their wing and … showed me some things in the portfolio and how I can integrate my brand into some of their brands.”

Andre works with his business partner, Rudy Cline-Thomas, to fully utilize the Warriors’ relationship to Silicon Valley.

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Kevin Durant

Nearing the completion of his second season with the Warriors, Durant is on the verge of becoming a two-time champion while simultaneously turning himself into a capable investor.

KD has been quietly making a splash in the start-up scene as a willing investor, backing tech companies like Postmates and Acorns.

Durant’s portfolio also consists of JetSmarter, The Players Tribune, and Overtime, a startup that focuses on up-and-coming high school ballers.

With the recent creation of his own YouTube profile, it looks like Kevin Durant is looking to further cement himself as a big-time baller and growing businessman.

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Draymond Green

While Draymond’s investment portfolio doesn’t stack up as impressively to those of his teammates’, Green has been quite vocal in his ambitions to become a billionaire by the age of 40.

And though he hasn’t made any financial decisions to back a start-up, Draymond has recently partnered with Blink Fitness on a franchise development deal to bring at least 20 gyms to his native Michigan as well as Illinois. He said,

“This is not an endorsement deal for me. I’m going to invest my money and my time to partner with Blink to bring an amazing gym experience to these communities.”

Perhaps this is the beginning of Draymond’s financial evolution in his quest to become a billionaire.

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Nick Young

Swaggy P is one of the newest faces in the Bay and he’s already familiarizing himself with the booming tech scene that is Silicon Valley.

In December of 2017, Brandless, an e-commerce startup that offers household items and food for $3 or less, publicly announced that Young was one of more than 20 investors in a $35 million Series B funding round led by New Enterprise Associates.

Other investors included fellow-Warrior Steph Curry and Portland Trail Blazers star C.J. McCollum. Okay Swaggy P we see you making those grown-men decisions!

Even though Golden State has their hands full with the Cavaliers these upcoming weeks, I’m sure some of the Warriors are looking to score outside of Oracle too.

Who will be the next Warrior to start funneling money into Silicon Valley?

Depending on who you ask, the 2017-2018 NBA champion Golden State Warriors either weren’t given an invitation to White House or chose not to go.

It’s President Trump’s word versus Stephen Curry’s… so we all know how it really went down.

Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

With the time in D.C. still allotted, there was an opportunity for the Warriors to use it how that saw fit. Today, we learned what exactly they plan to do.

According to a new ESPN report from Chris Haynes and Ramona Shelburne, the team is planning on spending some time on “a private tour of an undisclosed locale” with local children instead.

The decision to visit the nation’s capital came after Mayor Muriel Bowser and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — both Democrats — urged them to come to D.C. despite not attending the White House.

Head coach Steve Kerr put the decision in the players hands who collectively decided on the mystery tour with kids and mandated that there be no media allowed.

Kerr told ESPN:

“It’s their championship. They got disinvited to the White House, so it’s up to them what they wanted to do. So, they made their plans. I want the players to have a good day and to do something positive and to enjoy what they’re doing.”

While details remain murky, one could gather that DMV native Kevin Durant has a few spots in mind. The former MVP, whose foundation plants basketball courts around the world, has two in Seat Pleasant, MD.

The secrecy and covertness of the trip is simply to avoid politics according to Warriors forward, Draymond Green. He tells ESPN:

“At the end of the day, it’s about us celebrating a championship, so there’s no point in getting into the political stuff and all that. It’s about something we did great. Why make it about [politics]?”

Political or not, it makes a statement for one of the most popular leagues in the country to skip a visit to the White House. It speaks to the type of leadership we have and the attitudes shared by a collective whole.

Curry told reporters that he hoped his decision to decline the traditional invitation would inspire some change in the behavior of the Trump administration.

“By not going, hopefully, it will inspire some change for what we tolerate in this country and what we stand for, what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye toward,” he said.

Only time will tell. Until then, they’re going to make some kids very happy.

You know that kid in school who no one really liked ’cause they were an asshole and would always say their friends lived somewhere else? That kid is Kevin Durant.

Last night, KD’s Twitter responded to haters as usual but this time was a little different. These tweets made on the small forward’s account were in third person and from the perspective of an outside fan.

The tweets were deleted immediately but multiple Twitter users managed to get screenshots because once something is on the internet, it’s there forever.

Via @harrisonmc15:

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It definitely looks like KD forgot to switch Twitter accounts before defending himself.

For a guy who says he doesn’t care about what losers like us have to say, he certainly talks about it a lot. It’s not even like he doesn’t respond to hate on a regular basis, all throughout his official Twitter he argues with fans. I guess KD hasn’t accepted his decision yet and still feels the need to explain himself.

The antics don’t stop there. Through heavy investigation several Reddit users found a secret Instagram account linked to KD.

The account named “quiresultan” is private yet is being followed by numerous NBA players, KD’s family and even some rappers. There’s nothing wrong with having a low-key personal account but my son can’t just be normal. The account in question has been seen all over IG getting into petty arguments with children

Is Kevin Durant using a private, secret Instagram account to argue with kids?

A post shared by Sports Blog Nation (@sbnation) on Sep 18, 2017 at 8:15am PDT

If all this is actually true or not has yet to be confirmed so until then it’s funnier to assume it is KD out here trying to make it look like he has supporters.

Either way this whole story is hilarious and Twitter has once again gone in.

Things are always better when Twitter gets involved, here’s a few Tweets that make this whole situation that much sweeter.

https://twitter.com/_jaytrent/status/909755973505560576

https://twitter.com/IamHarshDave/status/909799838082060288

When Kevin Durant sees quiresultan pic.twitter.com/X7Ps1Qb439

— Josh 🏆🏆 (@JoshieF97) September 18, 2017

https://twitter.com/ThisisSadek/status/909800170451238912

"I'm not mad, I just made special hater shoes & set up burner twitter accounts to defend myself but I'm definitely not mad"

-Kevin Durant

— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) September 18, 2017

We miss basketball.

The NBA offseason, which may indeed be more exciting than the actual season, has cooled down of late.

After the summer league and free agency, teams have stop wheeling and dealing and rosters are mostly set for the new season.

NBA schedules were released yesterday, so I guess you can quench your basketball thirst by seeing when your team will be washed by the Warriors.

But in the meantime, we took the time to go back and look at the greatest moments in summer league history. Not official NBA summer league, but the various offseason tournaments held throughout the country.

The great thing about these summer leagues, like the Drew League in LA or the Dyckman Summer League in uptown NYC, is that they usually pair some of the great NBA players in the world against talented street ballers that never made it pro.

So these leagues are devoid of set plays and defensive assignments, it’s really the most pure form of basketball there is.

In this way, we get to see some of the great scorers in the NBA just go off.

So there are some obvious names on this list. You got your standard Kobes, LeBrons, Hardens and KDs, but you also have some dudes whose game is perfectly catered to the streetball format.

Dudes like Will Barton and Jamal Crawford can score with the best of them, but their games are perhaps tempered by “game plans” and “defense” during the NBA season.

As the NBA continues to change and become more of an unbridled scoring league, we hope dudes are just routinely putting up 60 points like during these summer leagues.

October can’t come soon enough.

We have arrived at NBA conspiracy season. Between the lottery, which the Celtics won a couple weeks ago, and the playoffs, everyone gets a little worked up during these weeks of the NBA season.

Game 4 of the NBA Finals looked pretty sketchy from an officiating standpoint, but the refereeing was just so generally awful and incompetent that it didn’t really favor one team in any way.

But the fact that the NBA has dealt with conspiracies and scandals that compromise the competitive integrity of the league in the past makes any sketchy refereeing look suspicious.

So when Tim Donaghy, the embodiment of one of those scandals, goes on sports talk radio and says the referees will be trying to sway the game one way, it’s not great for optics.

Tim Donaghy on KNBR: The NBA will instruct the officials to get this to a Game 6 pic.twitter.com/ISsqOT5lOm

— Kevin Jones (@Mr_KevinJones) June 12, 2017

Donaghy, a former NBA referee who went to federal prison for betting on games that he officiated during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, went on San Francisco sports radio station 1050 KNBR this morning and said the refs will have had meetings with the league.

In these meetings, as Donaghy told KNBR, officials are told certain results would be more favorable for the league.

“I’ve been in the situation before, I’ve been in these meetings, I’ve been in these sessions. I’ve walked out of them with my crew and kind of laughed thinking to ourselves, ‘Wow, they really want the Lakers,’ or ‘They want the Spurs, or the Cleveland Cavaliers to win tonight.’”

The NBA Finals generate millions upon millions of dollars for the NBA and they have an interest in making as much money as possible, so they’d obviously prefer the series lasting longer.

In other cases (like the infamous Donaghy-reffed Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals) it seems certain teams get the benefit of the doubt.

Donaghy continued,

“It’s no secret we’ve walked out of these sessions laughing because David Stern was on TV one time saying the best NBA Finals would be the Lakers vs. the Lakers. It’s in the back of their mind at all times what’s best for the league. Dick Bavetta came out on occasions and said he was put on Game 6’s to make sure Game 7’s occurred.”

Referees have a vested interest in making the NBA (their employer) very happy,

“It’s a form of entertainment, and if you’re going to advance as an NBA referee and make that $75 to $100,000 a year refereeing in the playoffs, you’re going to give the league what they want because they’re grading you, they’re advancing you and they’re paying you.”

Donaghy also went on to say that he thinks the Warriors will win anyways, regardless of the officiating, but it’s still pretty wild to hear coming from the dude who manipulated NBA games himself.

It’s hard to deny the legitimacy of what Donaghy is saying. Of course the NBA wants the series to go beyond 5 games and these referees are employees of that very same NBA, so they may be swayed (directly or indirectly) to prolong the series.

It’s unclear if that means the league is straight up FIXED or not, but it will definitely be worth watching the referees tonight.

With no basketball over this past week our lives have become empty, sad pits of despair. But we finally got what we’ve been waiting for all year, a rematch of the last two Finals between the Cavs and the Warriors.

This week has been full of narrative. Between everyone re-litigating last year’s 3-1 collapse by the Warriors, whether or not LeBron is the GOAT, how sad Russell Westbrook is, whether or not KD was in the right to leave, we’ve heard all the takes.

It was good to finally get some damn basketball last night, and hey, the 1st quarter was close!

The Warriors did what the Warriors do. They spread the floor out, attacked the rim, and kept the ball whipping around and were basically impossible to guard.

It seemed like the Cavs had a plan to stop the Warriors from shooting their 3s, but it just resulted in a shitload of wide open dunks for KD et al.

Enough with the actual analysis, though. Realistically, the most exciting plot-line of the game was Rihanna’s antics.

So here’s the best of what social media had to say during Game 1.

First off, Warriors coach Mike Brown (filling in for Steve Kerr) is being paid by both teams right now

Gotta big up Mike Brown who's getting paid by both franchises playing in the finals. GET YO COINS BRUTHA pic.twitter.com/rlpgx6fu3N

— Kristy Yamacoochie (@brownandbella) June 2, 2017

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Meanwhile Ty Lue still thinking about that one play…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU18JsjB3rq/

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There may be some issues with the Cavaliers’ depth

https://twitter.com/netw3rk/status/870454292498575360

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Not sure what’s good with this ESPN graphic

They ran out of things to write pic.twitter.com/1ye2veqoF9

— Hayley Byrnes Hartlage (@HayleyByrnes) June 2, 2017

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LeBron is truly doing everything out here

now on top of racism lebron gotta go home and also explain to his kids what he did to javale smh

— Desus Nice (@desusnice) June 2, 2017

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Zaza Pachulia… is not LeBron James

Zaza Pachulia is playing like he just started to digest an edible

— Pablo Torre (@PabloTorre) June 2, 2017

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As LeBron put Javale on a poster… all Jeff Van Gundy could do was pay attention to Rihanna

I’m with you, Jeff Van Gundy.

pic.twitter.com/H92X8OuL2Q

— 2DOPEBOYZ (@2DopeBoyz) June 2, 2017

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Shooters shoot!

https://twitter.com/Jiggleclay/status/870478276501938180

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Russell Westbrook is not upset about anything… and is watching Sister Act (great film, by the way)

Russ wasn't too worried about Game 1 tonight (👻 russwest44) pic.twitter.com/uJlAF9h1WS

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 2, 2017

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As for Rihanna… she basically took over Game 1

https://twitter.com/brohsen/status/870588386272309249

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Rih and KD have beef apparently

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/870478597252943872

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Gotta make mama proud

Congrats to KD on becoming the first NBA player to ever stare down Rihanna in front of his mom

— Pablo Torre (@PabloTorre) June 2, 2017

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It’s possible this one goes back a little bit

That girl @rihanna RT @AyeDerBaba94: @KDTrey5 So my question is… If you could marry any girl who would it be?? RT

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) November 22, 2011

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KD tried to act like nothing happened…

KD eye-rolls a Rihanna question
Steph: "Don't fall into that trap" pic.twitter.com/b3ganne8Ry

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 2, 2017

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Rih not worried though

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU0rOsYBcHs/

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I SAID SHE’S NOT WORRIED

Rihanna walks out of Oracle Arena, waving a golden pom-pom

— J.A. Adande (@jadande) June 2, 2017

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Where the fuck was Klay Thompson?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BU0_F07j_9a/

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Warriors are like cool and everything… but also extremely trash

warriors are simultaneously so great and incredibly gross

— Ben Detrick (@bdetrick) June 2, 2017

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KD went absolutely off, by the way

30 Points, 5 Assists, 0 Turnovers in NBA Finals – Last 2 Instances
2017 Kevin Durant
1997 Michael Jordan

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 2, 2017

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People forget…

People forget KD averaged 30 the last time he was in the Finals. It was Harden that didn't show up, not him.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 2, 2017

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Draymond.

https://twitter.com/daniecal/status/870501962621493249

I hope this shit goes 7 games, just for the twitter reaction. Basketball is the best.