Shannon Sharpe alleges deep malaise between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook - "Deep, unspoken beef"
On July 7, 2016, Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors after playing eight seasons with the OKC Thunder to form a dominant superteam, alongside Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The move evidently left his former teammate Russell Westbrook hanging by his lonesome, resulting in one of the most talked about feuds in NBA history.
Years have passed, and the two former Thunder teammates no longer share any bad blood between them. Russell Westbrook recently addressed his feud with Kevin Durant as a thing of the past and is even happy to see him back on the court after his injury. Skip Bayless on "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" gave his thoughts on Westbrook's comments.
"I think there's deep unspoken beef on Russ' part towards Kevin Durant," Bayless said.
From Bayless' point of view, he still sees Kevin Durant's decision to move on from Russell Westbrook and the OKC Thunder to go play with Steph Curry's Warriors as leaving his former teammate "high and dry." Bayless said that Durant felt as if the OKC Thunder's general manager Sam Presti favored and catered the roster more toward Westbrook, instead of him.
Beef or no beef, it will still be as entertaining today as it was when the two would go at it during their rivalry era. The Phoenix Suns (45-37) will face off against the LA Clippers (44-38) in the first-round of the playoffs.
The matchup boasts a star-studded lineup of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook's feud
During their first rivalry season against one another, Westbrook was by himself against the loaded superteam of Kevin Durant's Golden State Warriors. He shared the court with the electric "Splash Brothers" Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Russell's OKC Thunder was dominated in each of the matchups against the Warriors, further showing their superiority in all aspects as a team.
Westbrook, the following season, finally got some help when Paul George and Carmelo Anthony joined the team. During their first meeting, Westbrook scored 34 points as the Thunder got the victory over the Warriors 108-91.
The two former teammates even shared a "head-to-head" moment as they exchanged some trash-talking with one another, further strengthening the feud between the two.
The Thunder and Warriors ended up splitting the season series 2-2, setting the stage for a much-anticipated matchup series in the playoffs. However, the OKC Thunder got bounced out early in the first-round of the playoffs, courtesy of the Utah Jazz being led by Donovan Mitchell in his rookie season.
The feud dwindled down after that season as the two All-Stars seemingly moved on from that stage in their lives. Similar to Westbrook's comments, Durant spoke about his relationship with Russ during interviews after the Suns' practice.
"I think Russ is competitive against any player he plays against. I don’t think it was just specific to me,” Durant said. “Russ is that way. I've played with for so long and watched him for so long that he was that way against everybody so I don't expect anything different."