Kevin Durant is pouting about the NBA lockout that absolutely no one is talking about
Strap in, this one is a doozy… Kevin Durant spent the day on Monday talking about a potential NBA lockout on Twitter going back and forth with Tommy Beer, an independent Knicks reporter, and other random fans.
If you want to consume the whole thread, it’s linked here, but the whiplash is pretty tough, so here’s all you need to know with a bit less of the extraneous:
- Kevin Durant posits he isn’t planning on retiring anytime soon, accusing “unnamed sources” of furthering such a preposterous storyline
- Tommy Beer asked if KD wanted to address any other rumors
- KD asks a random fan who chimed in if they’re entitled to info because they pay for League Pass
- Beer asks for clarification on exactly what info fans are entitled to
- Beer warns that something KD said about working or not might be brought up in later CBA negotiations
- KD says owners have been well-off, and a back-and-forth ensues with Beer suggesting players sitting out when healthy will be a topic of discussion in the next CBA
- KD says fans and media want a lockout, Beer pushes back
- And finally, KD concludes with, “I feel u. I think the league is in a great place, I don’t believe there will be a lockout but who really knows.”
First of all, the lockout discussion hasn’t been anything other than preliminary to this point. Some think pieces about a labor stoppage have gone up in the last few days — including a NY Post piece on how a Durant trade could trigger a lockout — all in response to Durant participating in the lockout discussion. Prior to that, a lockout wasn’t really a regular topic of conversation.
Ah, yes, a classic Durant Twitter spiel, ranting about a non-topic.
Also, it’s crazy that Durant addressing retirement “rumors” is the afterthought of this whole discussion, but I digress.
Kevin Durant’s perception of lockout desire is all wrong
Kevin Durant seems to be equating fans and media discussing the possibility of a lockout to fans and media wanting one. Those things are very different, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who covers or loves the NBA wanting games to get canceled and going back to dark days with no NBA.
Beer puts it well mid-thread here:
I mean, remember 2020, and those dreary months as the pandemic tore through the world before the season resumed in Orlando? Fans don’t want that again. We tried to enjoy a 2K tournament, remember?
No doubt, owners are worried about the lack of leverage they have with star players forcing trades at a rate never seen before, but fans and media are just as resistant as Durant is to a lockout.
Kevin Durant’s social media, it’s always a trip and you never know where you’ll end up.