Kevin Durant Calls Stephen A. Smith a Liar

The NBA season starts later this month, so naturally all of the biggest stories involve player movement 1-2 years in the future. The Kevin Durant transcript above is in response to Stephen A. Smith’s comments earlier this week that Durant’s “primary objective” is to play for the Lakers. This is quite the entanglement.

Until the ink is dry on Durant’s contract, nobody is going to shut up about what he will do in his free agency next summer. Consequently, we’re going to see him get snippy because he’ll get asked about every new report about where he’s LEANING. As for Stephen A., it’s fun for social media to pile on him because of his bombast as a pundit, but he’s actually proven to be a pretty well-sourced reporter with NBA and NFL news.

Smith broke that Lebron’s Decision would be Miami, for example, and more recently was first to know that the NFL would hammer Tom Brady for destroying his cell phone, and was the first person Kam Chancellor contacted about ending his holdout. Who knows who told him what?

Durant is in an impossible position. He’s employed by the Thunder. The vultures circle anytime anybody in sports is honest about his contract. The most pragmatic solution for him would be to just “no comment” every time he’s asked, but it’s in our site’s best interest if he keeps taking the name-calling denial route.