Kevin Durant congratulated Russell Westbrook with a YouTube comment, as is the custom
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have had their issues over the past year, and they may or may not be on speaking terms, but KD made sure to congratulate his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate on his Most Valuable Player award — in the community section of his own YouTube channel.
Tucked away under a tab on Durant’s YouTube channel, which the Golden State Warriors forward started two months ago, were a couple congratulatory comments about Monday night’s NBA Awards Show winners. Because YouTube comment sections are always such a wealth of appreciative remarks.
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Thankfully, the fine folks at NBA Reddit and OKC’s astute beat reporters left no Durant stone unturned:
“Huge congrats to Russell Westbrook on MVP, that boy went out there and was a created player on 2k all year, F***in balled out. Gotta respect it.”
Durant also praised Houston Rockets guard James Harden, who along with KD and Westbrook helped lead the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals. Harden finished runner-up to Westbrook in the MVP voting.
“Shoutout my boy James Harden,” added Durant. “For 5 years now he’s taken his game to the next level, he will be an MVP one day, he’s an MVP now, he’s made so many people proud. I know this first hand, recognize what he has done for the game!?”
Harden won the National Basketball Players’ Association’s MVP honor at the first annual Players’ Awards in 2015. Durant took home the 2014 NBA MVP award, which is selected based on media ballots.
Durant’s relationship with Westbrook frayed last summer, when the eight-time All-Star joined the team that had just beaten them in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals without so much as a phone call to his former friend. Westbrook proceeded to throw all sorts of shade at Durant, calling him or his new work colleagues, in one form or another, cupcakes, posers and “b**** a**es.”
All the while, Durant praised the family atmosphere at his new workplace. That perceived passive-aggressiveness between two ex-buddies reached its apex at the All-Star Game, when they teamed up for an alley-oop and were mobbed by the entire West roster, before resuming their cold front.
Things between them didn’t seem all that warm in recent weeks, either, when Westbrook made sure we all knew he was watching “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” rather than the Finals. Upon delivering a title to Golden State, Durant in turn donned a cupcake hat with a ring on top as an ode to their feud.
Still, the torch Westbrook took to the league all season was worthy of Durant’s “respect.” Maybe it’s just me, but somehow I don’t think KD’s comments on his own YouTube channel will squash the beef. Russ was upset Durant only texted him last summer. Hopefully KD picked up the phone this time.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
