On Monday night, Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets were unceremoniously swept out of the first round of the NBA playoffs by the Boston Celtics. On Tuesday morning, Durant was back responding to his “haters” on social media.
Unsurprisingly, the target was Charles Barkley, someone KD (and other NBA players) has had issues with over the years. We can’t know for sure, but based on what Durant posted to his Instagram, it seems overwhelmingly likely he was responding to Barkley’s assertion that Durant wasn’t the best player on the Warriors teams that he won two titles with. Barkley also heavily implied that he was a “bus rider” on those teams, rather than a “bus driver.”
Via “Inside the NBA”:
Kenny Smith: “Kevin Durant’s not just on the bus.”
Charles Barkley: “What has happened when he was driving the bus?”
Smith: “He lost in the Finals. But you don’t think he was the bus driver in Golden State? You don’t think [Kevin Durant] was the best player on the Warriors?”
Barkley: “No, I do not.”
Smith: “I do, I thought he was the best player.”
Barkley: “Well you can say that, but you don’t join no 73-win team…”
Smith: “But he was the best player.”
Barkley: “He got MVP. He wasn’t the best player. Iguodala wasn’t the best player, he got MVP.”
It’s a pretty strong statement by Barkley, considering Durant won back-to-back NBA Finals MVPs. Durant responded on Instagram, posting photos of Barkley’s Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers teams, showing him alongside other stars like Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Julius Erving and Scottie Pippen.
“Where would Chuck be without the big homies,” Durant wrote.
Barkley famously never won an NBA title, but it seems that Durant wouldn’t have considered Chuck a “bus driver” on some of those teams even if he did. Durant did, however, omit any photos of Barkley’s time with the Phoenix Suns, a team that made the Finals in 1993 with no dominant big man and Barkley as the only Hall of Fame caliber player.