Ouch! A headline in this morning’s Oklahoman screamed that with the OKC Thunder down 3-2 to the Memphis Grizzlies, Kevin Durant’s new nickname had become “Mr. Unreliable”. The story blew up largely thanks to social media, and the newspaper was forced to apologize. Durant took the harsh criticism in stride, while Russell Westbrook called it “BS”:
”It’s all good. I don’t really care. Coming from my paper back at home, that’s what they’re supposed to write. I didn’t come through for the team. So they got to write that type of stuff. As a player and as a competitor, it’s going to be good and bad days. People are going to build you up. They’re going to break you down. They don’t allow you to stay even keel, and I think that’s what I am. My teammates love me. My family loves me. That’s all that really matters to me. It is what it is. We got another opportunity tonight.”
On whether he really believes that
”That’s a part of their job. It’s all about what have you done for me lately. It really doesn’t matter to me. I know my fans don’t feel that way. If some of them do, that’s cool. But my teammates, the organization, my family, my friends don’t feel that way. So I really don’t care. I don’t read the newspapers at all. I don’t read Twitter or Instagram or none of that stuff. But it’s all about what have you done for me lately and I understand that.”
(Russell Westbrook) when told Durant was called Mr. Unreliable
”That’s BS in my eyes. The guy’s been great since he’s been in the league. He’s gotten better every season. One week ago you guys called him MVP. Now the next week you call him unreliable. So that don’t make sense to me. That don’t make any sense. That’s bogus, man. That don’t make no sense. That really don’t.”
Scott Brooks on his reaction
“There’s no real thoughts on it. I just heard about that this morning, actually a few hours ago. There’s a lot of things you can say about him. That wouldn’t be one of them. He’s as reliable as I’ve ever been around any athlete. He’s there the first thing in the morning. He comes to work every day. To me, that’s reliable. I don’t know who said that or who wrote that. But it doesn’t make sense to me.”
(Thunder GM) Sam Presti
“What I witnessed from Kevin Durant on the streets of Moore, Oklahoma, a year ago is the absolute definition of reliability.”
