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Kevin Durant needs a hobby. Something other than social media.
Basketball is out, at least for the immediate future. Warriors coach Steve Kerr has said that Durant’s calf injury “is more serious that we thought,” and that he has been advised by Warriors staff that “you really can’t put a number of days or weeks on this.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors have won all four games that Durant has missed. They are up 3-0 on Portland in their conference finals series.
Durant has kept a low profile during his absence. He posted an Instagram photo of himself exulting after the Warriors eliminated Houston. And that was about it until moments after the Warriors’ come-from-behind victory in Game 3 on Saturday.
He would have been well-advised to stay on the down-low.
An exuberant Warriors partisan (mjacquez2330) took to Instagram shortly after the final horn:
“Doubt us without KD!!! Doubt curry, klay and dray!!! And keep thinking Milwaukee is better!!! Y’all doubters and haters will see!!!”
Durant (easymoneysniper) shot back, “very divisive mikey let’s celebrate this win as dub nation!! (expletive) wrong wit u??”
It’s an eyebrow-raiser, that’s for sure. For one thing, mjacquez2330 was celebrating the Warriors’ win, especially satisfying in light of the absence of one of the team’s linchpins. Yes, he blew raspberries at the omnipresent “doubters and haters.” Why Durant would consider that divisive is a mystery at present. For another thing, if you overlook Durant’s burner accounts, he is generally a genial social media citizen.
He deserves the benefit of the doubt, but that got more difficult in light of another social media post on which he chimed.
Posting on Instagram on Friday, the Blazers’ Seth Curry noted that (the Warriors) “move around faster when (KD’s) not out there. They’re not a better team, but they’re harder to guard.”
Replied Durant: “Hell no”
An NBCSports BayArea.com photographer saw and preserved the exchange on his Twitter account.
— Ali Thanawalla (@Ali_Thanawalla) May 18, 2019
Seth Curry clarified in a comment: “You can never be better without KD. Simple as that. Only difference is the dubs play harder without him. Now imagine if the starting 5 was all healthy and grinding.”
All of which feeds into stereotypes that Durant has attempted to diffuse as he approaches his Summer of Decision. Namely: He’s overly sensitive. He’s insecure. He sees Stephen Curry as a glass ceiling, a rival, limiting the adulation he craves from Warriors fans. And this is why he bolting Golden State come the offseason — so he can have a team of his own.
Not saying any of the above is true, but it leaves the loons out there an opportunity, however conspiratorial, to draw their own conclusions.
In a perfect world, Durant will rejoin the team sooner rather than later, for he is never as eloquent as when playing the game he loves.