Russell Westbrook And Kevin Durant Got Into It As The Thunder Attempted To Come Back

Kevin Durant’s return to Oklahoma City has been met with a great deal of anticipation and with good reason. However, much of the first half belonged to the Golden State Warriors, to the point where Durant’s new team held a commanding lead over Durant’s old team. With that as the backdrop, the Thunder (finally) generated something of a positive run early in the third quarter and it was Russell Westbrook in the driver’s seat for Oklahoma City.

After Westbrook led a quick run to slash the lead to 18 (yes, 18) points midway through the period, a timeout was called and the All-NBA guard decided that it was time to start jawing in Durant’s direction. Westbrook can clearly be seen exclaiming “I’m coming!” as the two players head toward their respective benches and Durant seems to brush things off with full knowledge that his team remains in complete control on the scoreboard.

While the Oklahoma City crowd showered Durant with a chorus of boos during pregame introductions and a “cupcake” chant later in the game, this was the first real interaction between the two former teammates and it did not disappoint. To some degree, this is silly given the large disparity in score but anything approaching real trash talk between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook is sure to cause a stir and this definitely qualifies.

Not to be outdone, Durant’s feud with his former team then continued, with Andre Roberson delivering a hard foul and Durant responding in kind.

If asked to wager on who would be involved in the first face-to-face altercation, Durant and Roberson probably would not have been the first choice. In short order, yet another incident occurred and, this time, Draymond Green was involved in some verbal theatrics with a fan sitting courtside.

Tensions continue to run high in Oklahoma City and the list of players involved continues to lengthen.