The last few weeks have been full of subliminal attacks by Kevin Durant aimed at LeBron James. The first attack came when Durant proclaimed that the situation surrounding James was "toxic". The second attack came a few days later, when asked who his greatest players of all time were, Durant responded by naming Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and . . . Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving, a former teammate of LeBron's who forced his way out of Cleveland despite three straight final appearances. Kobe and Jordan are named by most people when the conversation of greatest of all time pops up but to name Kyrie Irving, a player with zero MVPs was clearly a shot at LeBron.
NBA media and multiple analysts developed various hypothesis as to why Durant was making these comments. The hypothesis suggested Durant was making these comments to sway potential marquee free agents such as Kawhi Leonard from joining LeBron in Los Angeles and instead join Durant on whatever team he chooses after leaving Golden State. This makes sense on face value but Durant has no reason to make those comments to the media when he could have contacted the free agents privately.
The real reason Durant made those comments have nothing to do with free agency, they have everything to do with a tweet LeBron sent out in late November.
The tweet in question goes:
That tweet is clearly directed at Kevin Durant. Last year the world found out that Kevin Durant had been using fake social media accounts to defend his own reputation. The media clowned him for it, the basketball world laughed at it and Durant was left embarrassed. It seems that LeBron's tweet poked at a part of Durant he is sensitive about and as a result Durant fired back.
Further examination will show you that LeBron has a history of subtweets aimed at the league, every tweet sent out has a meaning. This tweet was aimed at Durant but why?
Does he know Durant has no interest in joining him in LA next season? Is there another factor we are not accounting for? Whatever his reason was for the tweet, Durant saw it and responded with shots of his own.
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