Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, who already called the New York Knicks “not cool,” has gone to war with Knicks Twitter.
As we all know, Kevin Durant is no stranger to Twitter. Since it was discovered that he used burner accounts, he has not shied away from engaging with people on social media. In fact, since signing with the Brooklyn Nets, Durant has been very outgoing and vocal on Twitter.
Tuesday morning, however, the NBA superstar pulled a Jon Snow and took on the entire New York Knicks Twitter head-on and without remorse, which resulted in some very entertaining back and forth.
For context, the “war” began from reaction to Durant’s interview on Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning.
During the interview, Durant was asked about a bevy of topics, including basketball, and why he wanted to come to the Nets. Early on in the interview, Durant harped on the fact that a few of the reasons he chose the Nets were due to the direction of the team and the young talent they had.
Immediately after that, Rosenberg asked if he had seriously thought about the Knicks.
“Yeah I thought about it sure, but it was just a thought,” Durant said. “But I didn’t really do any deep, full analysis on the Knicks”.
After doing a short quip about music, finally came the part where Durant stirred the pot. Ebro asked Durant, “Why is it so hard for the Knicks to get the best players?” Durant responded, “I think a lot of fans look at the Knicks as a brand and expect these younger players who, in their lifetime, don’t remember the Knicks being good. I didn’t grow up with the Knicks.
“I’ve seen the Knicks in the Finals, but kids coming up after me didn’t see that,” Durant proclaimed. “So that whole brand of the Knicks to them is not as cool as, let’s say, the Golden State Warriors or even the Lakers or the Nets now. It’s like the cool thing right now is not the Knicks” he also added.
It was at this moment that Knicks Twitter went ballistic. In the hours following the interview Knicks, fans were coming out of the woodwork to come after Durant. And much like Jon Snow against the Bolton Army, he did not back down.
Bleacher Report was nice enough to catalog a few of Durant’s responses:
KD was busy this morning ? pic.twitter.com/1QBaCVshnw
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 8, 2019
Fans have been calling Durant sensitive for a few years now, especially after his controversial signing with the Warriors. However, he didn’t lie in anything he said. He, an NBA superstar, provided his opinion on why other NBA superstars don’t go to the Knicks. He didn’t speak down upon anyone within the organization or their fans.
One tweet that stood out, in particular, was this one:
I know it’s a Knicks town, we got our own lil section though. We can both occupy this wonderful city! It’s all love on this side
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) October 8, 2019
All offseason, we’ve heard Knicks fans claim New York will always be a Knicks town and the vast majority of Nets fans won’t dispute that. But here you see Durant, who has now become one of the faces of the Nets say outright that it’s a Knicks town.
The awareness on KD’s part here deserves credit.
Rivalries are good for the competitive nature of sports. The Knicks and Nets are now in a position where they can have a legitimate rivalry and the real winners are the fans. New York basketball is on the verge of being back.
