Kevin Durant came to the defense of his close friend and Nets teammate Kyrie Irving. The latter was the subject of attack coming from Kendrick Perkins, who said the Brooklyn guard is "causing unnecessary drama," for calling on NBA players to skip the Orlando bubble games. But KD thought Perkins is just proving to be a "sell out."
Durant made known his sentiments via Instagram and the position he took did not come as a surprise. As mentioned, KD and Irving are playing in tandem for the Nets and they are buddies for several years now.
On the other hand, there is no love lost between the Brooklyn superstar and Perkins. True, they both campaigned for OKC some years back but the two failed on the friendship aspect. How they fought was well documented so Durant taking the side of Irving in the brewing word-ward with Perkins seemed the natural thing to do, according to the New York Post.
On June 12, Irving arranged a conference call with some 100 members of the NBPA and as the union's vice president, he called on his colleagues to consider not playing in the planned NBA season restart in Orlando's Disney World Resort. The Nets star pointed out that the health risks remain as the COVID-19 spread remains out of control.
More importantly, however, Irving had cited the protest movements that fight for social justice and racial equality. The outspoken NBA star said resuming the NBA games will only take away the attention from a more important cause.
Perkins found the initiative made by Irving as a mere disturbance. While he conceded that the Nets guard took a stance that is popular with NBA players, the argument made was not powerful enough.
"When you're powerful, you actually move the needle. Kyrie is not moving the needle. All he's doing is ruffling the feathers for no reason," the former NBA champion was reported as saying.
Despite the campaign against the season restart being waged by Irving, Perkins said the NBA will only continue with or without the Brooklyn star.
Weighing on the KD-Perkins feud, Jay Williams said Irving having on Durant on his side is but natural as they play on one team. However, Williams made clear that KD's support will not necessarily make Irving right as the latter is on the wrong.
The former Chicago Bulls star said Irving broke protocol and Durant got it wrong by throwing support on his pal.
"This is going to be an ongoing issue for a lot of situations if Kyrie doesn't abide by protocol moving forward," NBC Sports reported Williams as saying.
He added that KD labeling Perkins was misguided as Irving's actions, while motivated by good intentions, were disruptive and polarizing.
