Kevin Durant defends Kyrie Irving for speaking the ‘raw truth’
Kevin Durant is backing his friend and teammate Kyrie Irving against criticism.
Durant appeared on the “Play for Keeps” podcast and defending Irving, who is frequently the subject of stories for things he says and does. Durant says that happens because Irving tells the “raw truth”.
“The truth can hurt a lot of people. When you tell the raw truth, especially in this society, it’s frowned upon. And Kyrie just tells it how it is,” Durant said on the podcast, via the New York Daily News. “There’s no sugar-coating it. If he walks into the gym one day and says, ‘I don’t like how this is going.’ It’s probably not going well. But he just doesn’t mind voicing it.”
Durant also says that the media used Irving for clicks when it came to the objections to the NBA restart in Orlando.
“In this situation with the NBPA, he wasn’t the only one who had problems with what was going with the NBPA. Everybody had concerns,” Durant said. “But obviously he’s Kyrie the biggest one. That’s going to sell papers especially at this time during the pandemic, nobody is getting paid. So if you have an opportunity to get some clicks, it’s easy to use Kyrie.”
Durant may say that, and perhaps there was some sensationalism going on, but Durant omits that Irving’s idea was also the most extreme. Irving reportedly was talking about starting a different league separate from the NBA. That’s why he got so much attention.
Of course, the players signed together to join the Brooklyn Nets last year, so it’s no surprise that Durant would have Irving’s back. Neither player is participating in the restart due to injuries. That was said to be a factor in Irving’s reported rebellious plan.
