This two will be fighting from now to the end of time. Charles Barkley has found a new way to take a shot at Kevin Durant during the former’s 60 Minutes interview, which obviously provoked Durant to insult Barkley in an equally new light.
Forget the Celtics vs. Lakers, 1990’s Bulls vs. Pistons, 1990’s Bulls vs. Knicks, or 2000’s Spurs vs. Lakers rivalries when you think of the greatest rivals as the greatest ever NBA rivalry has to be…Kevin Durant vs. Charles Barkley.
Okay, that may be a stretch…but these two perennially duking it out on Twitter and on T.V. has to be some of the funniest content in the NBA world right now. In a TV interview with 60 Minutes, Barkley poignantly and hilariously (in my opinion) called out modern NBA players, and Kevin Durant in particular, for being too soft when the media criticizes them.
And that obviously set KD off as he fired back with a tweet a few hours later saying he’d never respect a word coming out of Barkley’s mouth.
Aside from both Durant and Barkley both playing on the Phoenix Suns at one point in time (Barkley’s Suns Career: 1992-96; Durant’s Suns Career: 2023-now) in their, respective, Hall of Fame careers, these two NBA great truly have very little in common.
Durant has been a quiet, emotionless assassin on the court for the last 16 years, while Charles Barkley was one of the most outspoken, brash, superstar pests in the NBA during the 1980’s and 90’s.
Moreover, Barkley, despite being paired up with some of the best players in NBA history (ex: Julius Irving, Moses Malone, Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob McAdoo, and Scottie Pippen) during his time with the 76ers (1984-92), Suns, and Rockets (1996-2000) and winning the MVP in 1993, he was never able to win an NBA Championship.
Reversely, despite being on some amazing Thunder (2007-16) and Nets (2020-23) teams and winning an MVP in 2014, Durant was only able to win championships (2017, 2018) when he joined up with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson in Golden State during the Warriors dynasty’s heyday.
Whether it’s out of jealousy or just a plain dislike of how Durant won his championships (which is probably a bit of both in my opinion), Charles Barkley has been adamant about how Durant, who many consider one of the premier franchise-leading superstars in the NBA (including myself), is just an awesome good “bus rider” and is far too sensitive to criticism.
And, in classic Kevin Durant fashion, he has hit back at Barkley through Tweets about how he’s never won a championship, is a hater and likes to put down players, and is just jealous over Durant’s accomplishments.
Of course, both players are Top-25 NBA stars of all-time (with Durant arguably being a Top-10 player) and have nothing to prove, yet I think there’s a lot of truth to what both of these players are saying. And that’s what makes this feud so entertaining.
Barkley’s right when he says KD and the rest of the modern NBA players have gotten away without being heavily criticized by the media, and how Durant’s never won the most important games without the help of Steph Curry and the Warriors.
The players back in the early 2000’s, 1990’s, 1980’s 1970’s, etc. all were held under hotter spotlights (although, in most cases, not as bright as the NBA players of today) as the media talking head would often have scathing reviews of their performances, while its equally true KD is especially sensitive to feedback that is even slightly negative. Just look at his Twitter.
Moreover, KD has failed to win championships for both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Brooklyn Nets. But, to be fair to Durant, he can’t control how the media covers him, nor are the failures in Oklahoma and Brooklyn all his fault.
Nevertheless, it’s also mostly true when Durant says Barkley is jealous and a hater of Durant as how could Barkley not be?
Barkley failed to win a championship, the one thing he wanted most (when he was a player), as he was forced to carry the load alone, mainly due to the fact he was paired up with NBA greats that were usually past their best. And he was most certainly criticized to the high heavens for his team’s failures.
Yet, when he sees KD jumping the OKC ship to join the Warriors dynasty for three championship runs and two victories, and then jump ship on the Nets to join a stacked Suns team in order to win yet another championship, it must frustrate him to no end. Then, when KD sounds off on journalists and reporters who slightly criticize his career moves, that must get Barkley even more annoyed.
Both of these guys have valid points and some absolutely illogical ones…which usually suggest neither of them are 100% in the right.
I hope these guys are able to make up at some point in the future…but not before getting off a few more hilarious jabs at one another.
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