Source: Jim McIsaac / Getty
Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant may still need a few more weeks of rehab before he returns to on-court action, but from all the heavy artillery he fired in comedian Michael Rapaport’s DMs, those Twitter fingers sure turned to serious trigger fingers. But this Tuesday, after Rapaport leaked Durant’s profanity-laced, slur-riddled messages to him, Durant came out and apologized to the public for how the exchange reflects on him.
“I’m sorry that people seen that language I used, that’s not really what I want people to see and hear from me… but hopefully I can move past it and get back out on the floor,” Durant said on a Zoom conference call with reporters when he was asked about his verbal assault on Rapaport.
But just one day earlier, “Easy Money Sniper” said on his Twitter feed that he and the comedian joke like that with each other all the time, and it was actually Rapaport who was in his feelings.
Rapaport has made a career of roasting people and calling them out with little provocation. But with KD, it looks like the Brooklyn-born actor/comedian stumbled on someone who enjoys returning fire and is not afraid to punch below the belt.
According to ESPN’s Malika Andrews, Nets head coach Steve Nash told her the team spoke with Durant after the messages were leaked but that “Nash declined to share specifics of the conversation.” And it still remains to be seen if the NBA will take any punitive action against Durant, but this will likely not be the last time “Easy Money” goes off.
The very week before this incident, Durant’s former coach Steve Kerr said how his Warriors’ 2019-2020 season without Durant was better than the previous year, which was Durant’s last year in Golden State. For context, the Warriors were Western Conference champions in the 2018-2019 season, and one game away from winning it all before a series of injuries in Game 6 of the NBA Finals crippled them and effectively ended their hopes. The next year, after Durant’s departure, the Warriors were 15–50, ended up in last place for the Western Conference, and did not make the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Durant did not take kindly to Kerr’s suggestion about him and posted on Twitter, “This is hilarious… If it’s one thing ima do, ima defend my honor on Twitter and not think less of myself…call me what u want.” When rapper Glasses Malone suggested KD could fall back and chill some, Easy Money only turned up more. Perhaps the Nets organization may want to consider putting some controls on Durant’s phone time before things get further out of hand.
