Kevin Durant and his Twitter fingers are stories of legend (or shame) depending on how you feel about a star NBA player defending himself with burner accounts on social media. Durant’s Twitter usage and apparent need to get into it with Twitter trolls anonymously on his own behalf has given himself the appearance of being, at best, a bit thin-skinned for a superstar.
Durant also has begun earning a rep for the being a fake tough guy on the court as well. The Warriors already employ Draymond Green who plays the role better with a bit more panache than Durant does. So Durant is essentially the Robin to Green’s Batman in terms of adding ‘attitude’ to the Warriors.
Keeping it real almost went wrong for Durant in the first quarter of the Christmas edition of Cavs/Warriors. Durant picked up a quick technical foul in the first quarter after disputing a non-call when he felt he was hit on a jumper, meaning he would be on thin ice from then out. A few minutes later Durant and Cavs guard Jose Calderon, got into a little kerfuffle on the sideline in which the former MVP gave Calderon a shove after the whistle right in front of the referee and no one could quite figure out how he avoided a second tech and an ejection.
Jeff Van Gundy with real talk about Kevin Durant not getting called for a second technical foul: "He should be ejected, but they won't do it…It's a total double standard, we know it exists and it's OK that it exists. Just admit it." pic.twitter.com/y5Ziqn2obo
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) December 25, 2017
Because the internet is fueled on pettiness and jokes, Twitter went to work immediately. Notably former Golden State Warrior (and Cavalier) Baron Davis took to Twitter to let the people know he had Calderon’s back. Davis tweeted that Durant was perturbed about the early physical play and referred to Durant as a ‘tattle tell”.
Calderon stop playing Too physical for the tattle Tell
— Baron Davis (@BaronDavis) December 25, 2017
Like every other NBA performative drama, nothing physical happened and only Draymond Green was assessed a technical foul for being Draymond. However, all eyes will be on Durant as the game goes forward, whether or not Durant sticks around for the finish has yet to be seen.