Warriors’ Kevin Durant defends his social media chirping
Warriors star maintains there's nothing wrong with him getting into an online argument about himself or about basketball.
Kevin Durant may be unique when he’s on the basketball court, but put him in the social media arena and the Warriors star says he’s no different than any of us.
Durant doesn’t understand why he’s been criticized for his recent online interactions with Fox Sport’s Chris Broussard and even fans.
“I’m a human being with a social media account,” he told reporters Friday at the Warriors practice facility. “I can see if I venture off about politics or culinary arts or music, and giving my input (there), but I’m sticking to something I know.
“I’m qualified to talk about basketball,” added Durant, who is hoping he can recover from a calf injury and play in the NBA Finals. “When I respond to something, especially if it’s about me, of course I’m going to tell you if you’re wrong about it at the moment.”
Kevin Durant on why he engages on social media pic.twitter.com/hRXpfB9X2I
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 24, 2019
Yes, Durant has come a long way from his days of utilizing a burner account to interact with those he disagrees with on social media. He sees no shame in letting his 17.5 million Twitter followers see what he’s really thinking.
“When I’m on the training table getting treatment on my calf and I see a tweet that comes back and I disagree … ” Durant said, hinting that he’s not afraid to set someone straight.
Just ask Broussard, who incurred the wrath of Durant earlier this week when the analyst said the Warriors winning the NBA title without Durant would be “the worst thing in the world” for the two-time NBA Finals MVP.
Durant’s agent/manager and business partner Rich Kleiman isn’t about to discourage his client from engaging people online when he disagrees with them.
“I love it. Kevin has every right to engage and communicate and have fun and banter,” Kleiman told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “Because I think we all do it to a degree, it’s just magnified (for Durant).
“It’s something that he likes to do and I don’t ever want to feel like my position as his manager means that I should have the right to tell him not to do something or tell him he should be a certain way.
“He’s a 30-year-old man who’s built this incredible enterprise for himself,” Kleiman added. “We’ve had honest conversations, but never would I call him and tell him ‘That’s such a bad thing to do for your brand.'”
Durant also shot down the notion that he must be thin-skinned to have to resort to answering his critics online.
“I don’t talk to people because I’m worried about what they say,” he said. “It’s that I’m interested.”
After all, isn’t that a big part of what social media is about?