Death, taxes and the Charles Barkley vs. Kevin Durant feud.
During an appearance on the Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, Barkley ripped Durant for his trade request from the Nets and how he has carried himself throughout his career. The team announced that Durant would be staying with the team going forward on Tuesday.
“He get mad when we say it, he piggyback on the Warriors to win his first two championships, but if you go back and look at his career, as the best player and being a leader that all goes with that, he’s been an abject failure,” Barkley said. “I mean, every time he’s been like the guy who has to be the leader and the best player he has not had success.”
Durant played the first eight years of his career for the Thunder (the first year being in Seattle before the team relocated to Oklahoma City) and never won an NBA title until he joined the Warriors in 2016. His move was widely criticized for joining a team that had just won an NBA-record 73 games in the regular season.
After a drama-filled season for the Nets this past year, Durant requested a trade and The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Durant met with team owner Joe Tsai and said he needed to choose between Durant or general manager Sean Marks and coach Steve Nash. In the statement written by Marks Tuesday, it was clear there would be no changes to personnel. Barkley had issue with Durant’s request given his track record.
“He just seems like a miserable person,” Barkley continued. “I call him Mr. Miserable, he never gon’ be happy. Everybody giving him everything on a silver platter. He was the man in Oklahoma City, they loved him, he owned the entire state, then he bolts on them and goes to the Warriors, he win back-to-back championships and he’s still not happy. Then he goes to Brooklyn, they give him everything he wants, and he’s still miserable.”
The feud started when Barkley commented that Durant hasn’t won a NBA title as the bus driver, meaning he hasn’t been the unrivaled leader of a championship-winning team. Durant responded to Barkley’s initial bus driver comments on his Instagram and then during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Barkley repeated his bus driver analogy. Again, Durant took a shot at Barkley in response on Twitter, saying, “All this s--- is nasty, another terrible analogy from a hatin old head that can’t accept that we making more bread than them. It’s just timing Chucky, don’t hate the playa.”
It’s safe to say that this feud isn’t over just yet.
