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What 'Tweetgate' Reveals about Kevin Durant, and Why He Is so Different to Other NBA Superstars

In an NBA starting to look as similar as a block of row houses, Kevin Durant is an emotional throwback.

By Myles StedmanPublished 7 years ago 5 min read
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Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant was recently found hiding online behind multiple social media accounts on multiple platforms.

It makes you wonder how many athletes do the same. Surely Durant is not alone, right?

It also offers us a glimpse into what fans have always claimed they want from athletes, but often cannot handle—complete honesty.

KD was able to give us this anonymously, until he accidentally outed himself by forgetting to switch accounts when tweeting.

Durant inadvertently revealed how he felt about the Oklahoma City Thunder organisation at the time of his leaving, but revealed even more about his state of mind regarding his defection, his motives, and how he feels.

“He didn’t like the organization or playing for Billy Donovan. His roster wasn’t that good. It was just him and Russ,” said Durant, under what he thought was the cover of darkness.

“Imagine taking Russ off that team, see how bad they were. KD can’t win with those cats,” he said in a separate tweet.

Durant later apologized for the gaffe, regretting the incident ever happened, as well as regretting he had brought Donovan and Oklahoma City into the fight. He didn’t take back what he said because, well, it’s how he feels.

This isn’t about how Durant feels about his old situation, though. What does the fact he felt the need to respond in the first place tell us?

Durant is sensitive. We know this. Recently, he told San Francisco Magazine about a “panic attack” moment he had shortly after signing with Golden State.

“I was up at 6 AM and [Durant] calls me and says, yo, are you up?” He told his agent Rich Kleiman.

“I’m like, yeah, what’s up? And he’s like, why the fuck did you let me do this to my life?’ And I’m like, oh shit, I’m coming over to your room.”

“That moment in the hotel was rock bottom,” Durant admits.

“To have so many people just say, ‘fuck you’, that really does it to you.

“I truly had invested everything I had into the people I played for, and for those people I know and love and trust to turn their back on me after I was fully invested in them, it was more than I could take. I was upset.”

The irony is obvious, as Durant also turned his back on those people, but it offers us a pathway through the man’s mind.

Professional sports are leaving behind people of Durant’s character and temperament in favour of steely killers, strong in “me first” convictions. Nowhere is that more prevalent than in the NBA.

We’ve seen this play out over the past few months; incoming Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving perhaps best represents the new age of superstar emerging.

“I deemed it right for me,” Irving described to First Take of his own defection, which is far similar to Durant’s than people may realise.

“As a twenty-five-year-old man, I wanted to be in a space where I could have ‘demand’ from a coaching staff, ‘demand’ from a franchise that would propel me to exceed my potential.”

Behind a prepared answer, Irving’s intentions are clear. He wants to lead a NBA franchise, the same way he was led by LeBron James for three years.

For that to happen, Irving had to leave his cushy situation with the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside the world’s best player, for unknown shores and the uncertainty and opportunistic spontaneity of a “super team.”

Was Irving prepared to take that risk? In a heartbeat. Durant’s defection was a far slower burn.

In his own words, from the short piece he penned for The Player’s Tribune to pair with his free agency announcement, Durant described his decision process.

“The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player, as that has always steered me in the right direction,” Durant explains. Only, it is not always that easy.

“This has been by far the most challenging few weeks in my professional life.

“I understood that I was facing a crossroads in my evolution as a player and as a man, and that it came with exceptionally difficult choices.

“What I didn’t truly understand, however, was the range of emotions I would feel during this process.”

Given his truth-breaking to San Francisco Magazine, he had even less of an idea of the range of emotions about to crush him like a wave after his decision became public.

Durant’s words in The Player’s Tribune do not sound like they were ever at risk of jumping out of Irving’s mouth in his interview on First Take.

All James could manage in his landmark “decision” interview with ESPN was a “man, this is tough” utterance when he’d decided to abandon his hometown for the Miami Heat.

As soon as the interviews ended, it was time for winning.

This is a far different experience for Durant, who is a different human being to those two.

That’s not to say he values winning any more or less, or gave up any more or less in his pursuit to win. It’s the pursuit itself that has affected Durant differently.

Even after a championship, a Finals MVP, and all other on-court demons had been expunged from his career, Durant is not at peace.

If he were, what reason would he have to continue to entertain the questions that will continue to plague him for the rest of his life?

I thought long and hard about why that may be, and all I could envision was that he may still be trying to convince himself.

Durant’s acceptance that the tweets were his came with an apology to the Thunder and Donovan for uttering their names.

He apologized for disrespecting them, but maybe there was more than that he wanted to apologize for.

During the season, there is little time do anything else than focus on winning.

During the offseason though, there may be many more “hotel room” moments, where he may again hit rock bottom. Perhaps “tweetgate” was that.

With one’s thoughts to themselves, Durant again has time to reflect on his decision, and the ramifications of, which resulted in him unwillingly playing the villain.

Will Durant continue to “suit up for other teams” on Twitter? Probably not.

However, the voices in his head urging him to rationalise his decision to the fans, and himself, will not stop as he deletes his extra Twitter handles.

For an emotional man like Durant, he may never convince himself signing with the Warriors was totally okay, and it’s apparent that’s going to take longer to deal with than it took James or Irving.

He’ll certainly never get done convincing the rest of the world, no matter how many championships he wins.

There may be many more “hotel room” moments to come, but he cannot let them stop him from winning.

These decisions are the currency of the league he plays in, and it may be that Durant is just a little more human than the rest of them.

basketball
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About the Creator

Myles Stedman

Journalist at Rugby.com.au | NEAFL media team

Contributor at Zero Tackle, RealSport, The Unbalanced, FanSided, Last Word on Hockey and SB Nation.

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