Kevin Durant appears set to make his return to the court for Monday’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals after missing the past month with a calf injury. And it’s just in time.
With the Warriors facing elimination, there is plenty on the line for Durant and the Warriors as they go against the Raptors. So, leave it to NBA fans to add some more fuel to the fire.
Just hours ahead of the game, fans started to re-visit a 2014 tweet from Durant about Raptors star Kawhi Leonard (then, with the Spurs). At the time, Durant claimed that Leonard’s success with the Spurs was a result of San Antonio’s system. Durant deleted that tweet five years ago, but screenshots live forever.
The tweet caused such a stir back in 2014 that Durant released a statement to Facebook, blaming everyone else for having a negative interpretation of his tweet. He wrote at the time:
I did not hate on Kawhi Leonard, quite honestly if you knew me or been around me, you would see how excited I was for such a young humble guy. But this world loves conflict I see. I really gave major props to coach pop and the whole staff for putting those guys in great positions to be successful. I’ve realized u can’t say anything about a champion so if I hurt anybody’s feeling I apologized(I really don’t) but u get my drift
Evidently, though, the tweet still has Leonard upset all these years later. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported in 2018 that the tweet may keep Kawhi from wanting to play alongside Durant in the future.
Via Warriors Wire:
Very few people so certainly I’m not saying that this is some sort of insight that is dazzling but from what I understand, when Kawhi heard that quote that he was a system player that it really, really pissed him off and that’s one of the things that you carry with him so I don’t forsee Kawhi wanting to team up with Durant.
So, yeah, Game 5 should be interesting. And we do know this for certain: Kawhi Leonard is not a system player.
