© Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
When Kevin Durant went down injured in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the home crowd of the Toronto Raptors cheered. Raptors players like Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry eventually quieted the crowd, some of whom cheered for Durant as he entered the tunnel, but the damage was done, as he limped off with what has been deemed a likely torn right Achilles.
After the game, DeMarcus Cousins, who suffered a torn left Achilles last year, called the Toronto fans, “…trash.”
“Fuck them. Fuck em,” Cousins said. “Trash. So trash. But like I said, no one idolizes superstar athletes. Not human beings. It’s always about what we can do between those lines. That’s it. That’s all that ever matters. And then once we lash out and do human-type things, then we’re considered bad guys.”
Cousins, who played for the Kings for the first seven-plus years of his career before being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2017, had many of his games broadcast by Grant Napear, a Kings play-by-play announcer, who has a radio show with Doug Christie, ripped on Cousins for his comments.
“If there is any player in the NBA that should not be talking about fan behavior, and about how they treat athletes as opposed to people, it’s DeMarcus Cousins,” Napear said. “This guy is the rudest, crudest, most vile player that I have ever been around in my 31 years in the NBA. He should not be speaking on this in any way shape or form… I have witnessed… over and over and over again, DeMarcus Cousins cursing at fans for no reason at all. I’ve seen him curse at women. I’ve seen him curse at people at the airports. I’ve seen him curse in front of ladies that have nothing to do with the sport he’s playing. For him to be talking about the fans, shame on him. Shut the hell up, and for once, act like a freaking professional. You got run out of Sacramento, you got run out of New Orleans, and I’m telling you right now, you’re getting run out of Golden State.”
Here’s the audio from Napear’s show on Tuesday:
Sacramento Kings TV announcer/host @grantnapearshow absolutely OBLITERATES @boogiecousins on his daily radio show today.
Even @Matt_Barnes22 thinks this rant is intense. ? pic.twitter.com/RIP7aPuGYq
— LOLKNBRHosts (@LOLKNBRHosts) June 11, 2019