The twitterverse has been losing it over Kevin Durant’s appearance on CJ McCollum’s podcast. Durant’s had a problem with keeping it cool on twitter in the past, and it comes as no surprise that this guy is going nuts over comments made on the show. For the record, I think all athletes should just throw their phones in the trash. The mental weight of social media as a star is just too much. If anything, hire a public relations person.
CJ had tweeted about Durant’s decision to leave an OKC Thunder squad that had just blew a 3-1 lead in the playoffs. It was a decision pretty much ended up with KD “befriending bullies,” per Paul Pierce.
But then, things got real.
KD got a little offended and told CJ to not worry about things happening at the top. CJ then responded by referencing the Portland Trail Blazers’ rise to the top as a three seed, to which KD said:
“How’d you play? Like an eight seed,” Durant said with a laugh. “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.”
Alright, maybe this is peering too much into a jib-jab is a bit much, but there’s something to the smidge of arrogance coming from CJ McCollum.
| Team (Seed) | W | L | Point differential |
| Portland Trail Blazers (3) | 49 | 33 | 2.60 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder (4) | 48 | 34 | 3.42 |
| Utah Jazz (5) | 48 | 34 | 4.47 |
| New Orleans Pelicans (6) | 48 | 34 | 1.48 |
| San Antonio Spurs (7) | 47 | 35 | 2.89 |
| Minnesota Timberwolves (8) | 47 | 35 | 2.35 |
| Denver Nuggets (9) | 46 | 36 | 1.57 |
*per basketball-reference.com
Let’s review how on top of things the Blazers are. They technically barely made it into the playoffs, have fluttered at the end of the season by winning just five out of twelve games.
While CJ arguably had his best playoff series of his career while falling in a sweep against the New Orleans Pelicans, Damian Lillard fell off the face of the earth.
| Year | Games | On Court | Net +/- On/Off |
| 2016-17 | 4 | -26.4 | -44.8 |
| 2017-18 | 4 | -13.0 | -22.5 |
*per 100 possessions
It’s fine when players have podcasts since it brings fans closer to the basketball product, and CJ certainly has the personality for it. Maybe I got duped and this whole thing was planned by him in order to drum up activity to his show, and if true, then shame on me.
If CJ is fine with the fanfare this could’ve created, it’d be interesting to see if he’d be willing to bring Damian Lillard onto his show just to ask: “Why are you playing like you’re 8th seed?”
Heck, he could even bring Neil Olshey onto the show and ask why we gave away Allen Crabbe for nothing.
