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:
