Adam Sandler’s return to Saturday Night Live was full of nostalgia, with the former cast member bringing back some of his legendary characters and performing a tribute to Chris Farley. But it also offered a direct plea to an NBA player who definitely wasn’t watching when the episode aired.
While SNL was taped before Game 3 of the series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, Sander included a message to Kevin Durant in his ‘Weekend Update’ segment where he revived his Opera Man character. Among the riffs Sandler included was a bit about James Harden, who injured his eye earlier in the series when Draymond Green made contact with his face.
Harden’s bloodshot eye was included in an on-screen graphic, as Sandler riffed on the incident and set up a punch line involving Kevin Durant signing with the New York Knicks in free agency this summer.
YES YES pic.twitter.com/OAS4zuZ5W7
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 5, 2019
“Please, please Kevin,” Sandler said while waiving a handkerchief. “And bring Kyrie.”
The studio audience roared as a graphic popped up with Durant wearing a Knicks jersey. The segment will do nothing to slow down the rampant speculation that the Warriors superstar is heading to New York this summer, and that Kyrie Irving may join him. Bettors certainly think the move is happening, too.
But right now Durant and the Warriors need to worry about the guy Opera Man called “Beard-o” on Saturday night. Just before that clip aired on NBC, Harden was over on ABC making that Western Conference semifinal a true series.
