Kevin Durant | Larry Brown Sports

Kevin Durant-Dwyane Wade beef not a Gatorade promotion

September 27, 2013 By Larry Brown 2 Comments

Many suspected the beef between Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade that was manifested over social media this week was just a promotion for Gatorade. After all, the two were featured in a commercial for the sports beverage last year. Now there seems to be definitive proof that this issue had nothing to do with Gatorade.

[Previously: Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant in beef over top 10 slight]

ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported on Friday that Durant’s deal with Gatorade will expire next week and not be renewed. He also says the deal expiring has nothing to do with Durant’s issues with Wade.

I didn’t think the beef was manufactured for a few reasons. For one, the setup for how the whole thing came up was too random. Durant was asked by CineSport to evaluate a top-10 players list and said James Harden should replace Wade. That question would have had to have been planted by CineSport, which seemed unlikely. Secondly, Durant is a guy who speaks his mind, so it’s not too surprising to hear him set rankings the way he sees fit. Lastly, Durant was doing promotional work for Degree when he made his comments, not Gatorade.

I could be wrong about this one, but it seems like Durant parting ways with Gatorade is pretty solid proof that this whole thing was real and not staged.

Additionally, some Houston Rockets players like Dwight Howard and Harden said the beef was real.

Durant was asked on Friday about his feud with Wade and decided to offer some praise of the Miami Heat guard.

“Dwyane Wade is a great, great player, man,” Durant said via Eye on Basketball’s Royce Young. “I’m not discrediting anything he’s done or nothing like that. I just voiced my opinion. He’s a great, great player. Finals MVP and champion. I didn’t mean to disrespect that or take that away or anything. I just voiced my opinion as of today. I love you D-Wade, man. It’s just competition.”

Seriously, what’s the issue? Wade isn’t a top-10 player anymore. Why isn’t Durant allowed to say that without people freaking out?

Filed Under: Basketball, Sports Business Tagged With: Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant

Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant in beef over top 10 slight

September 24, 2013 By Larry Brown 1 Comment

Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant are in a social media beef over Durant’s perceived diss of the Miami Heat all-star.

It all started on Tuesday when Durant was making the rounds doing some interviews on behalf of Degree. KD appeared on multiple programs to conduct interviews, but his interview with CineSport’s Noah Coslov created the headlines.

During the interview, Coslov mentioned that SI published their Top 100 players of 2014, and asked for Durant’s opinion of the top 10.

Here were their top 10 players:

When asked who was missing from the list, Durant said his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate, James Harden. Coslov then asked who Harden should replace on the list and, without hesitation, Durant said Wade. You can watch the video below:

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Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant

LeBron James, Russell Westbrook needle Kevin Durant over Redskins

September 9, 2013 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

LeBron James and Russell Westbrook needeled Kevin Durant on Monday night over the Washington Redskins’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on national TV.

LeBron and Russ are both big Dallas Cowboys fans — LeBron was even at the stadium watching the Cowboys in Sunday Night Football — so they couldn’t resist taking a shot at KD over the DC native’s team getting run by the Eagles.

Around the time the Eagles had blown the game open, LeBron sent this tweet to KD:

Can somebody please check on @KDTrey5. He may be heading to the ledge! Hahahaha.

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 10, 2013

Westbrook, who is Durant’s teammate on the Oklahoma City Thunder, sounded like he wanted to rub it in over the phone:

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Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook

Kevin Durant engaged to WNBA player Monica Wright

July 8, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 1 Comment

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant took a major step in his personal life over the weekend, but it may wind up helping his career as well. We have grown accustomed to seeing professional athletes marry actresses and supermodels over the years, but Durant decided to stick within the basketball community and put a ring on the finger of WNBA player Monica Wright.

On Sunday, MediaTakeOut.com posted a photo of Wright, who plays for the Minnesota Lynx, flashing a ring and confirmed that the couple got engaged on Saturday night. Seattle Storm star Tina Thompson also sent a tweet congratulating Durant and Wright. The Star Tribune’s Kent Youngblood later confirmed that Durant popped the question (via Daily Thunder):

Post-game Monica Wright confirmed reports that she and Kevin Durant are engaged. So there's that.

— Kent Youngblood (@BloodStrib) July 8, 2013

Now, Durant gets to work on his jump shot at home with a professional basketball player covering him — one that also happens to be his fiancee. That’s the best of both worlds. Unless, of course, Wright takes him in a game of one-on-one. That’d be just plain embarrassing.

For more stories on athlete’s wives and girlfriends, click here.

H/T Beyond the Buzzer

Filed Under: Gossip Tagged With: Kevin Durant, Monica Wright

Kevin Durant keeps it trill by eating at Popeye’s

July 2, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

We all know NBA superstars have the financial means to eat whatever they want. There isn’t a meal in the world that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant could not afford, but that doesn’t mean he likes to spend more of his $20 million paycheck than he has to.

“Popeye’s, f all that sushi, and steakhouse sh–,” Durant wrote on Instagram along with the photo you see above on Monday. “Keep it trill.”

What does Popeye’s have to do with keeping it real, you ask? Let’s just say Durant isn’t the only one that to share this belief. No one can explain it better than Delonte West did when he was talking about the ideal Valentine’s Day date during an interview with ESPN’s Page 6 back in 2006.

“One more thing: When we’re on the yacht eating, we’re going to have some Popeyes chicken,” West said. “That’s for dinner. It’s to let her know, put a mental image on her mind, first and foremost, if you ain’t from the hood, you don’t like Popeyes chicken. … But that’s just getting it on her mind, saying, you know, ‘Yeah, I can wine and dine you, but I’m a little rough around the edges and I’m keeping it real with you. I can be romantic, but this is real, we’re going to eat some chicken tonight. Chicken and biscuits.’”

You get it now? Of course you do.

Filed Under: Basketball Tagged With: Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant a victim of the Dwyane Wade fashion trend with camo capris

June 17, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio Leave a Comment

Kevin Durant is one of the more likable players in the NBA, but that does not mean he is exempt from making questionable decisions. It wouldn’t be fair to the other NBA players we rag on if we let KD wear ridiculous outfits and get away with it, so we had no choice but to call your attention to the leather shirt/camo pants combo Durant showcased on Instagram over the weekend.

While Durant hasn’t exactly reached Dwyane Wade status with hot pink pants, he did go down a road once traveled by Wade in that the camo pants appear to be capris. Couple that with a leather shirt like the one Justin Bieber was wearing during the Eastern Conference Finals and Durant gets a D+ for fashion – unofficially of course.

Filed Under: Fashion Tagged With: Kevin Durant

Does Kevin Durant’s new back tattoo have a spelling error? (Picture)

May 22, 2013 By Steve DelVecchio 3 Comments

Kevin Durant recently put the finishing touches on his massive back tattoo, but there may be an error with the ink.

The Oklahoma City Thunder star shared a photo of one addition he made to the tattoo this week — a portrait of Jesus on the lower left of his back. He later added a bible verse to the right side, which Ball Don’t Lie identified as James 1:2-4:

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides,” the passage reads. “You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

Perhaps we are misreading the fancy font, but it certainly looks like the word “mature” is spelled “mautre” in the last line the photo Durant posted shows. Durant seems to take his tattoos quite seriously, so he can’t be happy if that is indeed a spelling error. We have seen tattoo type-O’s in the past, but they are pretty rare on an athlete’s body who makes nearly $20 million a year. Again, maybe we’re just reading it wrong.

UPDATE: It looks like we may have been reading it wrong. Durant later shared a close-up photo of the tattoo and it looks like “mature” was spelled correctly, though the writing was odd looking.

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Filed Under: Basketball, Tattoos Tagged With: Kevin Durant