Kevin Durant gave an in-depth interview about his relationship with Russell Westbrook, which he hopes will set the record straight.
The new Golden State Warriors star spoke with the San Jose Mercury News’ Anthony Slater about his relationship with Westbrook, his former teammate in Oklahoma City. A recent “Rolling Stone” article characterized the two as “work friends,” which is something Durant disagrees with.
“We were brothers. We are brothers,” Durant said of him and Westbrook.
Durant then said that the term “work friends” was used by the Rolling Stone author, and not something KD actually said.
“When you do a story for Rolling Stone, we talk and then he writes the story how he wants to write it. He came up with that term on his own. That got kind of miscommunicated through the entire thing.”
Durant talked about the differences between him and Westbrook. For instance, he noted that Westbrook grew up in a stable, two-parent home and got married and was living one life, while Durant was less sure about himself and his path. He says that just because he chose a different path doesn’t mean he wanted away from Westbrook or that he doesn’t have strong affection towards his former teammate.
Durant also took some fault for the way he handled his free agent departure from the Thunder in July.
“Yeah, you know, I understand that. I understand that. That’s something me and him will talk about,” Durant told Slater. “I’m not saying I’m right. I’m not saying I did it the right way. I’m owning up to that. We’re not going to go through this in the media though. I’m not going to say I should’ve did this, should’ve did that. We’ll figure our differences out as men 1-on-1.”
That probably was in reference to Westbrook deleting a text message from Durant.
The former NBA MVP disagreed with ex-teammate Kendrick Perkins’ comments that Westbrook and Durant never valued each other. He also accused the media of trying to drive a wedge between him and Westbrook — both when they were teammates and now — because the storyline creates heightened drama and more ratings.
On Thursday night, the Warriors and Thunder will meet for the first time since Durant left OKC. Through three games, Durant leads the Warriors in scoring to start the season with 31.3 points per game.
You can read the full interview here.
