Kevin Durant is not the most polite guest ever.
Which makes him a perfect podcast guest — polite, safe guests are boring. Durant is anything but that, he will tell you what he thinks. And laugh in your face
Durant was a recent guest on C.J. McCollum’s podcast “Pull Up” and was straight up honest with, and bemused by, his host (hat tip NBC Sports Bay Area). McCollum spoke for a lot of fans and players when he said he was frustrated with Durant going to the Warriors — and them signing DeMarcus Cousins — because he wants more even competition. Durant literally laughed it off. Here is the exchange (transcription via NBC Sports Bay Area).
McCollum: “You know how I felt, bruh, I was hot.”
Durant: “Why are you mad about this stuff?”
McCollum: “Bruh, I’m in the league. I’m in the Western Conference. I gotta play you m’fers all the time anyway as it is, over and over again ...
Durant: “You know you guys aren’t gonna win a championship.” Right here Durant starts to laugh, which gets louder when McCollum speaks again
McCollum: “Bro, we have the team... We have the team, we have the capabilities, anything is possible. We can win a championship bro.”
Durant: “I mean let’s be honest. I like ya’ll two (McCollum and Damian Lillard), you’re hard to step. But I mean, come on. You can’t be upset about this.”
McCollum: “I can be upset because Cuz was a free agent ... he could have came to Portland ... why you gotta go there (Golden State), Cuz? And I text him. I was mad. I got on Twitter.”
Durant (laughing as he talks): “Yo, get out your feelings, yo ... I suggest you just keep playing man and don’t worry about what goes on at the top of things.”
McCollum: “We right there at the top of things.”
Durant: “Relax.”
McCollum: “We were the third seed last year ... some unfortunate things happened in the first round.”
Durant: “How’d you play? Like an 8 seed (laughing) ... you know I’m only saying this because you be shooting little shots at the Warriors and at me all the time, so this is my time to throw a little jab at you.”
You can listen to the entire exchange here.
By the way, Durant is right. Portland is not winning a championship next season.
The Blazers were the three seed in the West with 49 wins a year ago, but now they are in the middle of that Battle Royal in the West where 10 or 11 teams (depending on what you think of Dallas) will fight for one of the six playoff remaining slots in the West (only Golden State and Houston are playoff locks). The margin for error will be slim. Portland could make the postseason and maybe even the second round if things break their way, but that’s the ceiling.
