Kevin Durant has had quite the summer, as the Warriors’ star won his first title and NBA Finals MVP award. He also has returned to form on social media, where he’s taken on trolls and Donald Trump alike, and started using his signature sneaker to respond to his haters.
His Nike KD10 “Red Velvet” was a more subtle jab at the Oklahoma City fans that chanted “cupcake” at him in his first game back after leaving the Thunder, but the KD10 “Finals” leaves no doubt what his message is. On the bottom of the insoles, all of the names (the non-vulgar ones anyways) he’s been called and insults he’s heard are written and over the top of those are his stats and accomplishments from the NBA Finals.
Among those words was “bandwagon,” referencing Durant hitching himself to the Warriors for what most assumed would be (and what turned out to be) a dominant, relatively unchallenged title run. This particular inclusion on his shoe insole of insults got ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith going — although, that’s not exactly a difficult task. On Wednesday’s episode of First Take, he and Max Kellerman debated Durant’s shoes and Smith went in on Durant for trying to act as if people claiming he hopped on the Warriors bandwagon was in some way false.
“Here’s the problem. There is a word that absolutely is in there that he should omit because it is absolutely true: bandwagon,” Smith said. “There is no doubt that’s exactly what he is and that’s exactly what he jumped on. The bandwagon. If he even tries to deny it, he’s a new fool. He’s beyond ignorant. There is no doubt that despite the fact he’s one of the top two players in the world, he is the reigning NBA Finals MVP and deservedly so after 35 points per game, he’s an NBA champion, and he’s on LeBron James’ heels for the best player in the world as far as I’m concerned, there’s no denying that he is a bandwagon jumper.”
Prior to that rant, Smith said anyone questioning Durant’s abilities on the court or character off the court is ridiculous, but came after him about the bandwagon inclusion. It’s hard to argue Smith is wrong and when Durant’s shoes were released there was a fair amount of eye-rolling going on, but this is what athletes do.
Manufacturing motivation and perceived slights is a time honored tradition and if it all led to Durant’s 2016-17 season being as strong as it was, then it’s hard to fault him for it. However, it’s also well within everyone’s right to find it funny how hard it seems Durant is trying to play off that he isn’t mad about anything and actually finds it funny himself that he’s become a villain in the NBA. He’s not alone in that, it’s happened with LeBron and others who have found themselves suddenly hated by many for the first time and trying to figure out how to handle it.
