Enes Kanter has been on a roll lately. His budding bromance with Steven Adams offers endless entertainment, and he perfectly mitigated all the solemnity surrounding Kevin Garnett’s retirement with a hilarious burn about his creaky knees. He got in yet another sideways dig when speaking to reporters on Friday, this time about a certain former teammate that skipped town in the offseason.
Enes Kanter on Westbrook as a leader this year: "He was our leader last year, too."
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) September 23, 2016
It might seem like sour grapes on Kanter’s part, just another case of a spurned former teammate bitterly lashing out at the one who hurt him. But it’s also a difficult point to argue if you’ve been paying any attention at all to the Thunder the past few seasons.
Though Kevin Durant is widely accepted as the better of the two players, Westbrook has been the team’s spiritual and emotional leader for some time now, dating back to Durant’s injury-riddled season two years ago when Westbrook seized control and embarked on an 82-game rampage that resulted in monster triple-doubles every other night.
Still, it’ll sound like blasphemy to some. After all, Kanter has a history of taking passive-aggressive shots at Durant, like he did after Westbrook signed his extension with OKC earlier this summer. It’s possibly he meant nothing at all by it, but it doesn’t seem likely.
(h/t CBS Sports)
