You may have heard that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are not on speaking terms.
That’s normally not an issue because they are no longer teammates. In fact, the two aren’t friends anymore because of exactly that reason. Which is fine until they have to play together, as they will in New Orleans on Sunday at the NBA All-Star Game.
We got to see a sneak peak of this awkwardness behind the scenes in NOLA this weekend.
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook continue to avoid one another. pic.twitter.com/bfeDwsRLRZ
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 18, 2017
It’s kind of innocuous, as Westbrook is already engaged in conversation and Durant is just trying to get somewhere else. Still, look at these large humans try to avoid human interaction at all odds.
The collapse of of the Russ/KD friendship actually bums me out quite a bit. They were really fun to watch play together and the emotional scars are still pretty fresh. The Warriors are still the Warriors, but Russ is singlehandedly dragging Oklahoma City into the playoffs. A 7-game series with the Dubs would be a postseason ratings bonanza and maybe cause nuclear armageddon, but it’s looming. Before we get to that, though, the two have to coexist on a team playing a meaningless exhibition. Either way, it’s going to be weird.
I think everyone watching on Sunday, however, would love to see what would happen if Steve Kerr decided to throw Russ out there with the four Warriors All-Stars, KD included. Would they work well together? Would it help thaw out this icy relationship? Would Russ refuse to play with him? If the score doesn’t matter and the game is uneventful, the least the All-Star Game can provide is some high-profile relationship maintenance, right?
