The Ringer NBA Show - Durant's Secret Social Media Identity (Ep. 138)

Episode Date: September 19, 2017

The Ringer's Chris Vernon and Kevin O'Connor dissect Kevin Durant's multiple social media accounts and discuss the best ways to respond to backlash on the internet in the NBA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I want to tell you about the ringers gambling podcast. It is called Against All Odds with Cousin' Sal. And you're not going to believe this, but it's hosted by Cousin Sal. The biggest degenerate gambler that I know. He's such a degenerate. He has three other degenerates that he calls the degenerate trifecta. And they break down every conceivable gambling thing you would ever want to gamble on.

They even take you to Captain Morgan's Make Belief Casino, where Sal makes up props on all kinds of things. Sports, pop culture, you name it. you are going to want to get your gambling advice from these guys. Cousin Sal, he's been a staple on the BS podcast for the last 10 years. So good that we gave him his own podcast. Check it out against all odds with Cousin Sal. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show.

I'm Chris Vernon. Joining me as he does every Tuesday is from the Ringer. Kevin O'Connor. Kevin. How do I know this is actually you, Chris? How can I know for sure? I suppose you can only take me at my word, and I sound like myself, right? You know what I sound like.

So it would be very difficult for someone to sound like me. You have quite a unique voice. Yeah, and I should have dropped the AKA Kevin O'Conert because last week you spoke to how you never go to concerts. And there we were the social media followers of one Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Conert himself, who said that you were very excited to see who was it. It was like Arcade Fire or somebody like that? Arcade Fire, yes. Did they exceed your expectations?

Yeah, it was my third time seeing them. They're terrific. They're great. Everybody should see them. Really? They're a band that need to go out of my way to go check out, huh? I mean, in person, I mean. Yeah, I think they put on terrific live shows.

Well, there you go. The other thing is after last week, we heard from all manner. of different countries. This was shocking. This was a fun part of the last week from, I suppose, Tuesday to Tuesday for us was, you know, I gave a shout out to the guys in Ireland last week. And I think there was wooded Portugal. But we have had, I know we got Germany and we got Australia.

We got Manchester, UK, Portugal, Macedonia. We had all kinds of people reaching out from all over the globe. South Korea, I think, was in there, some more Ireland. So we are incredibly, I mean, I was surprised and certainly indebted to all of you that listen overseas and literally like all around the globe. I was shocked to see the amount of people that responded to that saying that they were listening to these different countries. So that was super cool.

And thanks to all of you that download and listen every week. It's pretty sweet, man. NBA is worldwide. I love it. It really is worldwide. All right. So we have got a fun NBA controversy on our hands. Yes.

Since we have last spoken. Kevin Durant himself, I guess it was Sunday night. The controversy began where Kevin Durant tweeted out some things from his account that were responding to fans. And so when he attempted to respond to said fans, he tweeted basically in the third person where he was saying, Kevin Durant didn't like playing, he didn't like playing with the organization, or he didn't like the organization of Billy Donovan. It was just him and Russ.

He couldn't win a title with those guys. Now, these were soon deleted, but because, of the because I mean listen this stuff it lives forever everybody in the free world was screenshoting it

and then it was passed around everywhere and immediately opined like oh my goodness this guy has a second account he forgot to switch to the second account and so now

Kevin Durant accidentally responded to some guy on Twitter besmirching Oklahoma City and Billy Donovan, etc. on accident from his own account. So, we need to take a deep dive into this. Do we believe that Kevin Durant was responding to this person? He intended to respond to this person from a different account,

but mistakenly tweeted from his own account, or I suppose the other theory, and that is that someone else has access to his account and they mistakenly posted from his account in response to a fan. I am. This is absurd. It's so, and I will say this, if this were the court of law, which by the way, having this like on the people, court or something. This would outrate the decision

by a wide margin. If you're ESPN and you're losing subscribers anyway, right? Why not have, let's do this in the court, let's set up two fake lawyers and Kevin Durant because the prosecution, which I suppose would be saying that this was

Kevin Durant from a second account, would be able to present a case that then includes the Reddit thread of people finding other fake accounts, evidently, that Kevin Durant owns, which his teammates follow. Like, it was on Instagram, right? There was an Instagram account that everybody thinks was Kevin Durant's second Instagram

account that he would use to talk shit to people and defend Kevin Durant, et cetera. And it all, it's all a little shady because his brother would like tag this fake account in it. And so all the internet sleuths went at it and then found that like this account that only had like whatever, a very minimal amount of followers was followed by like a bunch of NBA guys. So it was like he had told NBA guys to follow this account because this is the one, that's the one he actually can talk, you know, any kind of way from. You know, his name's not attached. And so when that is presented too, it is almost like once the Instagram thing came to light, I was like, Like, well, damn, man, maybe he did. Maybe he does have a bunch of accounts.

Maybe he does have alternate accounts. And it wasn't just somebody in his circle that has access to the count. All right. I know that you are a Reddit deep diver. This is one of the great controversies in sports over the course of the last several months. What is your verdict, Kevin O'Connor? Well, so first of all, shout out to Reddit. Like, their investigative reporting is top notch.

and shout out to Tim Cato of SB Nation as well. He did a little bit of a deep dive into Kevin Durant's Instagram. And yes, the evidence is overwhelming that it probably was Kevin Durant. I mean, we don't know for sure, but it sure as hell seems like it was him who just forgot to flip that switch. And one thing I don't think I've really seen mentioned anywhere, but he used the word cats, right? Cats. That's notable because that's not a word many people really say these. these days. But if you listen back to interviews and maybe on certain podcasts in the Ringer

podcast network that included Kevin Durant, you'll hear the word cats out of Kevin Durant's mouth on multiple occasions. You'll hear it from him and interviews over the course of the season saying the word cats. So I'm just saying that he used the word cats in the tweet or someone used the word cats in the tweet. And that's a word Kevin Durant has occasionally turned to when having conversation with the media or during interviews. So that's another piece of event. as well that I haven't really seen mentioned too much. I think it's fascinating, Chris. I think in some ways, like, it is not super surprising, right?

I mean, he just dropped those shoes that kind of like literally stepped on the haters, right? He's always kind of been knocked for being a little bit sensitive. And personally, I don't really care that he's sensitive. I don't think it's a bad thing or a good thing. It just, it just is. I mean, whatever he uses his motivation, whatever, it's cool, right, by me. but it's just fascinating that we're at the point where we're talking about one of the greatest players of this era like one of the most accomplished players a future Hall of Famer and he's catfishing people essentially

logging into a fake account just a shit on certain haters that are tweeting him things that in his mind are false and just one last thought Chris that what he said it's it's almost like and I'm sure a lot of Thunder fans feel this way It's almost like he forgets that his team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, was up 3-1 on the Warriors and that they were right knocking on the door of the finals. And maybe they would have won it. I mean, that team wasn't garbage. It wasn't garbage at all. I mean, you take away Ross and Durant from that team. Yeah, they wouldn't be good.

But that's true for any team, really, when you take away their superstars. That team was built probably as about as good as you could have hoped to actually have a shot and making the finals on the way. And it seems like that's been forgotten in some ways that granted they've made some mistakes over the years, but that roster wasn't terrible. It was constructed pretty well around Westbrook and Durant. It's just, in my opinion, like it always comes back to this. Just the Durant Westbrook dynamic wasn't perfect. I mean, the roster construct wasn't perfect overall, but it was quite good. So I think that gets lost a little bit.

But overall, Chris, I'm just blown away that we are actually talking about a future Hall of Fame or creating a fake Twitter. account to just trash some haters or and a fake Instagram as well that is that his teammates know about I mean there's all there's so many angles I don't even know where I'm going with this Chris but like I got to say what that other thing his teammates followed him on his private Instagram account so people knew about it and that makes me wonder if like other players have fake Twitter accounts too that they're using to respond to people because if it's known that he had an Instagram where he just responded to people anonymously then maybe other guys do too I mean how deep Does this go, Chris?

I will tell you that TMZ ran up on Draymond Green, and when they asked him about it, he just could not stop laughing. So, right, this is all. I mean, he put out a dick pick on Snapchat. Let's be real now. I know. So, right, he is at his own social media faux pause. Okay, a couple things on this.

So let's just say if we accept, if we accept that we do think it was him, and he just forgot to switch the account, and he was responding to this guy, defending Kevin Durant or explaining what he really feels. So let's just let's at least, let's say that it is certainly a possibility that those are Kevin Durant's real feelings of which he was not going to, he would not express himself, but he, that's how he really feels, and this is his outlet to be able to say that, right? The Donovan thing is surprising to me because there was never anything about that, right?

Nothing ever came out about that, like Kevin Durant, maybe not wanting to be to play for Billy Donovan. But that was one of the first things that he mentioned. I know there's been a lot of focus on the, it's just Russ and him and, you know, you can't win with those cats or whatever. But that Donovan thing is in there. And of all of the different articles that were written, I never saw it come up that that was an issue, right? And I did have to wonder, you know he loves Scotty Brooks, right? Like, I did have to, they made that switch for his last year. And then he says that.

And at least there was a moment where I thought, I wonder if it's different if Brooks, you know, is never gone from there. I wonder if Scott Brooks, like, wouldn't have been gone from there if maybe he plays it out in Oklahoma City. because I thought it was odd that one of the first things mentioned. Okay, here's what we got to know. It's either him or it's somebody close to him. End of story. So I believe the contents of the tweets. That's the point of this, right?

Let's set aside who it was. Whoever it was, I take what they say as fact, right? And that that's how Kevin Durant really feels. And so the Donovan thing stands out to me, doesn't it you? I mean, a little bit in some ways, but another way it's not really just because, I mean, maybe he just didn't click. Maybe he was so used to Scotty Brooks over the years that for him, he just wasn't, after one year, he just wasn't really feeling the change. Maybe that's what it was. Maybe it was the fact that Billy Donovan has Vegeta's hairline from Dragon Ball Z.

Maybe it was that. I don't know. I mean, maybe it was hard to look at him without thinking about, um, A guy like gun from Vegeta. Dragon Ball Z fans will understand what I'm talking about. And no, everybody else is like, just stop. Dragon Ball Z. Yeah, we're talking about DBZ, man.

Billy Donovan has the exact same hairline as Vegeta. I don't even know what you're talking about, man. You got this nerd stuff. Just Google it. Google it after the podcast. Billy Donovan, it looks like he's about to go super sane. When he else, all right, fine. Don't get, please, for the love of God,

don't get mad at me, nerds. Please don't get mad. I'm fine with you liking whatever you like. I got no idea what the hell Kevin's talking about. For what it's worth, I'm not making fun of Billy Dunneman. I love Vegeta. I love his hair, line, and I hope Billy Donovan can go super sane because that would be pretty incredible.

Okay, now we have to, we have to say this. This will never leave Durant. It just won't. No. Okay. Did you see what happened yesterday? I am not one that frequently, obviously there was the Embed thing. Other people are going to goof about it. But by far the most interesting thing of anything that took place is you are just waiting for that moment where when is he going to tweet again? This all happens. The firestorms going on.

I'm like, is he going to be self-deprecating about it? Is he going to give an excuse about it? Is he going to acknowledge that this is all happened and this firestorm is going on? And that Reddit is doing the detective work to figure out about his Instagram and all this stuff. And what he does is he tweets out this Kevin Durant shooting contest with Chris Mullen. And so I don't frequently just click and want to read the replies, especially on some kind of a specious tweet like that. But oh my God, have you read the replies to this?

Yes. I just scrolled right by the video and look at those. I was howling, laughing. It's every one of them. It's either, is this you, or it's a joke about it, or it's who, you know, who's tweeting this? Or there was the one guy that tweets, If you scroll that a little bit, it's like, I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight tweets on my fake accounts.

Like, which is an homage to 21 Savage, of course. You have Jimmy Seafood, which is some seafood place that responds, Jimmy Seafood, famous seafood, you guys have the best food in the world. Oh, oops. Like, I mean, you got like businesses goofing on him. You've got everybody sending memes and pictures and, oh, I mean, it is just. And it goes on forever. I could not stop laughing. And I'm like, oh, no.

I like the one with the shoes. It had the words from his tweets put on the bottom of his shoes, the shoe soles, whatever they were. I thought that was good. Because originally, like, it was stepping on all the haters. That one's like a little bit down the page. You're going to scroll a little bit to see that one. But I thought that one was quite funny.

I wonder if he does end up addressing it. Or how do you play it if you're, I mean, he's got to say something. He's media days next week, and he's obviously going to be asked about it, right? I mean, there's no way he's not going to be asked about it. So maybe that's why right now it's just silence. I mean, maybe you need to formulate your strategy about how to address the issue. Maybe you do just say, well, somebody from my team who controls the account.

Maybe that's just a safe route. If you admit it, then you're definitely, it's definitely not going away if you say, yeah, it was me. and like fuck all the haters. Like if you say that, then it's like nobody's, nobody's gonna stop talking about it, but maybe you should just say, yeah,

it was somebody from my team. Maybe it was. It could have been, right? I mean, let's not rule that out. But nobody's going to believe it. I know,

nobody's going to believe it, but like if he admits it, then everybody knows for sure. Like, that's the tough part with public relations. You're in a tough spot here, right? I don't know. What do you think that he should do,

Chris? I mean, I really don't know. I am usually on the side. of goof about it, right? The best thing you can do is goof about it because it just makes you way more likable, right? So it's almost like I would goof about it.

If I'm him, and again, he would never do this, he'll never take my advice, right? This will all be handled like in some kind of insane, serious manner, right? where he just kind of blows it off and he'll put on the act and you know I don't want to talk about that somebody you know

somebody's got access to my account and blah blah blah and then it'll just hope it goes away right I would almost Which it will though You know I mean Dreamones dick pick goes away too But I think the

You're talking about it now That's what I'm saying it like it doesn't Yeah but it's not like something But people Bring it up all the time I got you It fades away slowly over the course course of time. I got. That's fair. I would almost film like a video since he's big into this

video, right? He wants to take over the world with YouTube. I'd almost film a video making fun of the situation. And then everybody laughs. I am one of those that thinks that humor is the best way to deal with any of this stuff because it humanizes you and it makes you way more likable. I would say, I would venture to say, the absolute best thing, that has happened for the perception of Lanzo Ball was the Father's Day, I think it was Foot Locker commercial, where it had the other rookies,

because it just like poked fun at the dad and everything, and it's like, it's all been so serious and whatever else, and it made him intensely likable because he played that thing perfect, right? Where he was goofing on his dad, he was goofing on his situation, and it just, it's kind of like, it's harder to goof on something when you're willing to goof on yourself.

And so given what we know about him, I think that's rather far-fetched as something that could take place, but that would be my advice, advice that he wouldn't use, but that would be my advice. I would say that's how you. I typically err on the side of deal with something like this in humor, make fun of it, because everybody else is making fun of it. So make fun of it too. That's what I do.

But let me say. Quick story. When people are, okay, with Durant, I'm a little surprised because obviously he has been a center of attention for, you know, a decade of his life. And he has been one of the great players in the NBA. He has not gotten as huge of a spotlight because he played in Oklahoma City at the beginning.

because of just the local coverage that takes place there. It's not like New York. It's not like Chicago. It's not like Boston. It's not like L.A. It's not like some of the places that the spotlight is much brighter. And every single move in your personal life and everything is dissected. That being said, he has had the spotlight on him as a superstar in the league for a long, long time.

So I'm a bit surprised that at some point he didn't just decide screw all these. these people. I don't care what other people think about me, right? I think there comes a moment in a lot of people's lives where they've just got to be confident in themselves or it will cripple them what people thought. I went through it very early in my career where at some point you've just got to decide, like if you're going to let if you, if you're worried about everybody that will tweet you and say something horrible to you or doesn't like you or want you to be fired from your job or whatever else. Like it can eat away at you terribly. And you should just got to decide at some point you cannot, when you're any kind of public figure and mine was just a media member, you got to decide like I don't care what these people say.

Because if you do care, it will just eat you alive. And so I am shocked a little bit by that on the other hand. and I've made this too long. But I will say I think I've been very close with a basketball team for many years now. And I think it would be incredibly shocking to people how much they care about what everybody says and writes. For sure, there are those that don't. But I am telling you they do. And part of it is because they actually keep up and they pay attention and it bothers them and they hold grudges like hell.

But a major part of it is the family and friends. And let me give you two examples that I think will bring this to light. So about two or three years ago, I was doing the post-game show. show for Grizzlies games. And I'm walking through the hall and this beautiful older black lady stops me in the hall. And she says, hey, Chris. And I was like, hey, how are you doing? I introduced myself, whatever. And she says, I just want to tell you, I watch you every game, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, wow, that's really nice. Whatever. And she said, I am, and thank you so much for the nice things that you said about my son. And I was like, oh. And she's

like I'm Vince's mom and I was like what and she's like I'm Vince Carter's mom she's like I watch all the games in Orlando whatever and I was like holy macro now it's one of those moments where a why on earth does anybody care what I say about Vince Carter like to me I grew up just like you know me like you grow up this guy's like an idol right like the fact that this is even happening is crazy but it's also a little window into that she knows She, like, that's a mom that knows everything that everybody says and cares still. You better believe she relays that to Vince. And he knows, okay?

The second one was for about two and a half years, Tashon Prince, who had been on the league for over whatever, 15 years, right? He had been with the Grizzlies. He's not a, not a super outgoing guy by any means, but is a super nice guy and really thoughtful guy. I had never, like most people, had some kind of like long sit down conversation. We don't really, we didn't really know each other. But obviously I covered all the games. And I'm in the locker room one night and he grabs me out of nowhere. And he says, hey, Chris.

And I'm like, what in the world? Like, again, we've never even like seriously talked. It's besides me having like a recorder in his face, right? and he says my wife told me I need to come grab you and and talk to you and I was like uh oh and he's like uh I just really want to thank you for standing up for me this year and the things that you said on the broadcast and blah blah because he had gotten he had gotten hurt and he was still being enrolled out there and he was just not playing well at all and I was like dude he's not playing well because he's hurt like it's pretty clear the guy like they should they should just

be sitting him and whatever. So I kind of defended his poor play at some point. But his wife had told him, go grab me and thank me for, and I'm like, like, why does Tachon Prince care, right? Like, I mean, and it's the same with like anything. It's like whether you say it on the radio or they read it in print, they, many, a huge percentage are maniacal about it. And whether it's them or their friends and families, they know.

everything that said about them. They really do. So this is a little extreme with the whole extra accounts, but the idea that they are way more sensitive or really care what anybody thinks, much less anybody with a microphone or a pen thinks, is that's not crazy at all, at all. It's not at all, Chris. I mean, that was, everything you just said was kind of one of the big shocks for me as I started writing. I mean, I had one person, I don't know if it wants to be named, so I'm not going to say his name, but he told me a couple years back, he's like, the one thing you realize, like, is you're meeting NBA executives or NBA players is that for the most part, most of them are all just regular people who have really cool jobs, right? And if they're regular

people, like you and I, a lot of people care about what others think of them. I mean, I think some do more than others. I think that's really where this all comes from. It's just the need to be liked, the need to have people like what you do, to like the decisions that you make. So for Kevin Durant, I'm sure for him,

he probably hates every time like he tweets, no matter what it is that he tweets it, he sees mentions about like, you're a snake, you know, like just all this negativity when really he's just trying to put out all positivity with his actions.

So I would imagine for him like that that is almost hurtful in a way despite all his success despite all the good things happening in his life despite the fact that he just won a title and it hits some incredible shots in the NBA finals like it doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of people out there in the world who don't really like him for certain things that he's done that he feels like are probably perceived incorrectly and maybe maybe those people are in the right um to knock him for that but maybe they're not so like in that sense it's not surprising that he cares um it's not surprising that executives care about how their trades are perceived.

I wrote an article months back. I forget what it was, but in like the intro of the article, I dropped like a story I was told before, and I'll say it here now. It's like someone told me certain executives or certain ownerships, either currently in league or in the past,

would care about how a trade was perceived. And so there would be situations where maybe, the rumor leaked. Maybe it was something that they leaked or it leaked somewhere else. It's conceivable that certain people high up in front offices would like read local forums, right? Or local team websites or they'd go on Reddit or Real GM to see the reaction to a trade because if it's going to be perceived as like a highly negative, dumb decision by the team, then maybe they're less willing to make that decision, even if it's something that they think that they should do. I don't have any specific examples. That's just a very vague story I was told, but I buy it, knowing the fact that, yes, a lot of people in the league,

not just in the NBA, but across sports, care about what people think about their decisions. And that's why, ultimately, I think the best front offices are the ones that just do whatever the hell it is that they want and don't worry about what the public thinks about it, because you need to do what you think is right for you. And so for Kevin Durant, I hope for him, like, this is a situation where he realizes, you know what, just forget it. Like, it doesn't matter if some of these people think that's the type of person I am. I'm just going to be me.

I mean, what is it that it says on his Twitter profile? I'm me. I do me. I chill. Like, just live by that, man. Like, seriously, that's who he should be. I'm me. I do me.

And I chill. I think that's the mindset. Like, he really, really, I hope he takes on. Because otherwise, he's not going to be able to get past what people are saying about him or what they think about him. But you just need to get by it, man. Like, it's all noise. Like, don't let them get you down.

That's what I would say to KD or really anybody in that matter who feels compelled to make a second account just to respond to a Twitter egg who's hating on you. I am unsure about his relationship status, I suppose, given the lack of reporting on it. I don't know that he has a girlfriend, fiancé, wife, a significant other, whatever it may be, right? But I would say that it is one of those ones who are. I think it is extremely helpful in these situations. Just for a matter of time, right? When you are, when you're single, you can become like, you got just like a lot of more time on your hands. And you're underpolling a lot and you're always like there's not as much stuff to take up your time.

And you do really worry about what everybody thinks about you a lot more. That was at least my experience growing up, right? And then usually if I had a girlfriend or, et cetera, I cared less. That was just my experience because, and that's just, you know, because of what's going on in your life. But when that is at least, I recall that being true of me with my job, right? It was almost like I had this, I don't know. It's somebody that cared about me a lot or a validation or whatever it may be. And the other thing is like you just got less time if you're in a relationship.

You just do, you know. You're sitting around on the internet. No time to log into the second or third account. Yeah, I'm just saying you just don't, right? You just don't. Like if you're, you know what I mean? If you're single, you're just sitting around. He's clearly just sitting around.

playing on the internet or on his phone all the time, you know? But that is true. That's not necessarily totally fair because I will say all these guys. If you're in any NBA locker room, these jokers have their, just like you and me, they are addicted to the phones. They always have them. And the second that game is over, you walk in the locker room, they all got them in their hands. So first thing they pull out of their locker, first thing.

You know, and a lot of it's, you know, family members texting them and whatnot. But I guarantee they're on that social media app with a quickness. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's true. I mean, I know I got blocked by James Young before. So, I mean, he seeked out, I see he seeked out my account. It blocked me. I, I haven't checked.

I suppose there's a site you could check this. The only guy, the only one I know. Is there? If there is, if there's a site to check to know who's blocked, you like hit me up i'd be curious if there are any other players just i mean i don't really care but it would be interesting to see it's one of those i would be i would probably shocked i would probably be shocked to see who has blocked me i think because i just don't know there's nobody that i know right um like that i have an awareness that it has happened um except

for one guy oh you'll love this you don't know who it was Who was it? Sheems the beat. What? Yeah. Oh, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but at the same time, I don't know. I mean, clearly he was the, I mean, maybe the worst draft pick ever. I'm not.

That's not. I mean, he's blocking you again right now. I know. Before this podcast goes up, but he heard that. I know. That's not hyperbole. Like, maybe the, like, maybe the worst. And he's the number two pick.

And you've got to. take it a consideration. The next picks are like frigging Tyreek Evans and James Hardin and Steph Curry. And I mean, it's just, it's the worst, the absolute worst, okay? But I guess, and I didn't know. And it was, I didn't even know until years later. And somebody mentioned him and, or like maybe retweeted him and like put me in the thing. And then it said, like, you are not authorized to look at this tweet or something.

And I was like, what in the world? And I clicked on it and it said, you are blocked. And I was like, well, geez. I was like, I was like, well, asshole, you finally got a block. That's terrible. Even that, like, I mean, even that, like, if KD decided, oh, I'm just going to block everybody who tweets me hate, even that's like a couple clicks, you know, you're still wasting your time blocking people that tweet negativity at you. You're either better off just not looking at your mentions or just kind of, I mean, it's so easy just to say,

it go. It's so easy to see because it's hard to let it go, right? But at the same time, maybe maybe for someone like of Kevin Durant's status when like it's just endless, maybe like you just do need to find self-restra and not look at mentions. Even the positivity. This is one of those breaking news moments where something happens when you're on the air. So I just happened to have, I had Durant's page pulled up in front of me and it said, you know, it, what's it called? Like refreshed and it said one new tweet. And I was like, oh yeah this is going to happen right when we're on the air and the tweet is thanks san francis this one same is thanks san fran mag for the love cover story out now all right let's click on it

and see what the replies are nice you're on the right account this time uh oh my god gonna retweet from your burner account then there's a guy that just let's address the elephant in the room bud l-l put a bunch of snake emojis is that your backup account is that you kd Be strong. I mean, golly. It's never ending. I mean, there's already like hundreds of replies.

And everybody is saying the same thing. I mean, like in some ways it's like kind of sad. You've got to acknowledge. You got to think about the world we live in. Michael Jordan is known by more people as a crying face than as an incredible basketball player. Kevin Durrett to some people is going to be known as like the high profile. player who makes fake accounts because he cares what people think about him, more so than a great player.

It's just so funny, the world we live in that's been kind of created through the internet. I'm cool with it. It's fun. I love it. But it's just really weird. It's very odd how that's happened. My advice would be to just make a joke out of all of it. That's what I would do. I doubt that's what will happen. I look forward to seeing what he does. That's what I would do. I'm excited. There has to be at some point you can't just keep ignoring it. You have to acknowledge this is happening to. You got to. All right, we got to take a quick break. When we come back, we are going to get to four burning questions as we are less than a week away from teams having their media days and training camp beginning.

We'll do that on the other side. Hey, it's Bill Simmons. Wanted to make sure you're listening to the Bill Simmons podcast this year. We stepped it up with the guests. I don't even have time to list all of them. But let's just say we have had a who's who of A-listers, A-List. minus listeners, B-plus listeners in sports, pop culture, movies, music. I mean, where else can you get Kevin Durant, Steve Balmer, Jimmy Iveen, and Charlie Staren

in the span of six weeks? Nowhere. The answer is nowhere. You can find that literally nowhere other than the Bill Simmons podcast. We are in Year 11. It's been an honor to do it. I hope you subscribe to Bill Simmons podcast. Check it out.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. All right, Kevin. Four questions we're going to get to as I met. And there's going to be media days next week. There's going to be training camp starting next week. And then the preseason will be right around the corner. Question number one, what do we make of the lottery reform that was pitched and Adam Silver's seriousness of DMP rest?

You go first. I thought Ben Falk cleaning the glass.com said it best. It's a bandaid for a broken leg. I mean, it helps to Band-Aid. I think it's an improvement over the current odds. but at the same time, it still doesn't really hit at the actual issue, which in my opinion is the overvalued contracts. But at the same time, even that's not really an issue because if you devalue those, then you're hurting the teams that actually draft those players and need those players locked up. So it's very difficult to find a solution that actually makes a whole lot of sense, which is why I want this to pass.

And I think it will pass because it's kind of really just a short-term fix that maybe can ease towards. a bigger change. So I'm happy with that. And I think the whole thing about this hurting small market teams is nonsense in the sense that the odds aren't going to discriminate against small market teams. The teams that have like the sixth, seventh, eighth, eighth best odds, no matter their small market or big market, have an increased chance to win the NBA lottery.

Yeah, because the argument obviously for the small markets is this is our only chance to get an unbelievable guy, right? we're not getting them by a trade and them resigning with us and they're not going to get them free agent-wise like it's just it's few and far between

or it almost never happens so we need to draft the guy that being said almost everybody in fairness if I'm on the other side argument I'd say almost everybody has re-uped like you get eight years out of these guys

in most of the cases like almost everybody Okay, maybe their third contract, they leave to go somewhere else. But it has been extremely rare, even for the great players, to not sign their second contract with the team that drafted them, right? Like, it just hasn't. I mean, even Anthony Davis still playing in New Orleans as far as I know, you know? And like, even after we've seen guys leave, Durant played a long time in Oklahoma City,

and LeBron played a long time in Cleveland. And even Gordon Hayward, right? he's not some kind of top-tier superstar most people's mind, but I mean, he played a long time in Utah. It's not like they bolted after their first contracts to go elsewhere. And so that's the flip side of it. Because I do think that's certainly an argument that will be made if you're a small market. Like, honestly, us being horrible and then being able to win the lottery, that's our one crack at getting an amazing player. Like the Lakers are going to be able to sign Paul George next year possibly.

Like we're not if you're, you know, a Milwaukee or Memphis or New Orleans or wherever, right? So I don't know. The thing with the small market, Chris, is like how many small market teams have actually had like top three lottery odds, though, in recent years? I mean, look down the list. Celtics, Seltic Sons, Lakers, 2016, Sixers, Lakers, Nets, which actually went to the Celtics because the flip pick. You look at 2015. Then you have the Wolf's Nixon Sixers. The Wolves are the only small market team.

2014, Buck, Sixers, Magic. There you have two. Now we're starting to find some. Generally, the smaller markets, I would argue, as general premise, have had much better ownership slash management than the big markets. It's just been weird, right? With Brooklyn and New York and L.A. and whatever, right? You need to.

I think that there's so much. many different issues that this isn't going to solve anything, but maybe it'll help a little bit. Okay. And on the DMP, on the DMP rest, I'm hopeful that this works out in the sense that teams are more, are more likely, certainly on national TV, that guys, you don't have these moments where guys are all sitting. They clearly made an effort in the schedule to lighten it up and extended a little bit longer, reduced back to backs, reduce the, you know, eliminate the forward five days, all this crap. But so, I mean, if they hadn't

done that stuff and then they say, yeah, and so on your end, but now I think it's obviously going to be taken very seriously because the league went out of its way to try to set up the best scenario for these teams to not be resting guys, especially in marquee games. It's cool. It's cool with me. I mean, the new schedule is going to be better. It's going to be best for, better for rest and recovery for players.

So that's a good thing. Okay. Next. These guys playing in big games. Next. Last year was an extremely rare scenario for coaches in that nobody got fired. First time in forever. Who is really under pressure this upcoming year?

I'll let you go first. It's got to be Doc Rivers, the LA Clippers. Revamped roster. Doc preached at the Patrick Beverly Rockets. Hall introductory presser that, you know, he's a ball movement coach. He's always been a ball movement coach and, you know, that's what this team's going to be. The only reason they weren't that in the past is because of the personnel that they had. And that's partially true. But I want to see with this roster, with Blake Griffin, who's one of the best passing,

playmaking, ball handling big men we have in the league today, along with Gallinari, who's very good in the pick and roll, along with Patrick Beverly, who was super effective as well. With all those guys who can handle the ball and pass and shoot, I want this offense to really resemble a modern team, like a spurs type of offense, a Warriors type of offense, Celtics, go down the line, even the sixer style of play the way they move the ball side to side. That's the way I hope the clippers play. And if they don't, then I mean, what's the point of having Doc Rogers as your coach if he's not going to maximize the guys on his roster? So in my opinion, Doc should be in the hut seat. And I think with all the front office changes, there's a strong chance that he

could be under pressure. It's always one of the big ones, right? You try to identify, okay, is the management new? And so when you have new management, it stands to reason a lot of times they want their own guy, right? He's not their guy. And so I think there's a view, like, Hoyberg was the first one that came to mind to me, right? Just given last year, I think everybody thought he was going to get gone. and they're going to be really bad, but I don't know. It seems like they have just, they clearly are putting one foot in both wells in terms of what they're going to do in the future. But he's the first one that comes to my mind.

But he may, like, they may just stick it out because I don't know. I never know what the F they're doing with anything with the Bulls anymore. They hired Doug Collins today, one of their old buddies, instead of a young, progressive up-and-coming front-office face in the crowd. They hired them, you know, you talk about new guys. When you talk about new guys, right, like Larry Bird ain't there in Indiana anymore. And so I could see McMillan. And obviously they're going to lose, right, because they don't have Paul George anymore.

So I can see McMillan catching it. I could see here's a sneaky one. And it's just because of his personality, his kid. And he could butt heads easily with somebody. And again, I don't know the personality of the new guy. If they totally just tank, like if they're terrible. And by tank, I don't mean like tank, tank, tank, like the Sixers. I mean, if they're just terrible.

No, but sometimes you can be good. He is such a competitor, right? And I'm a big Jason kid fan. But he is the kind of guy that can butt heads with people, for sure. And if you got a new guy in there that doesn't have some kind of, like, long previous relationship with him, then I could see. I could see somebody Sometimes it's personal

A lot of times good coaches get fired Because of personality conflicts And so when you hire somebody Or you've got your guys with you You kind of know the deal going in Right everybody kind of knows each other But when it's a new group of people That's when you start

The backbiting and the pointing of the fingers And the coach says the roster sucks And the GM says the coaching sucks And he's got all these problems right that go on. So I can see that one. And I don't know. I mean, maybe Gentry, right,

that the Pelicans start looking bad. You know, if it's going to be a non-playoff year. Maybe Gentry. And that's about it. Burrow Watson with Phoenix, they may just decide, hey, we suck, you know.

Kind of like Orlando did when they had the jog Vaughn. It's like, yeah, it's not your fault. We suck, but like we're going a different direction. Right? I mean, it's not Earl Watson's fault that they're going to suck. But right?

I like Earl Watson. I hope he sticks around. I know. At some point, they'll start blaming them, just like they do everybody, even though those guys have, like, no chance at winning.

All right. Number three, Stefan Marbury, wants to make a comeback. Who would you want to, who would you want to see make a comeback? Realistically. Somebody that is now gone,

but you would want to see them, make a comeback. The Marbury thing is crazy. I got five names for you, Chris. I'm going to go through real quickly. I got five names. Two of them playing in Europe right now. Ekpe Udo, Ekbe Udo, and Anthony Randolph.

Those two. Udo looks significantly better. Draft Express put out a really good video a couple months back about how his game has progressed and how he could really be one of those versatile, the defensive centers in phase. League. And Anthony Randolph, I don't really think he's that good, but I think he's at least good enough to be on a roster. The other two are players who are now out of the league, one of them, Ray Allen. I think that

dude could still play. It's not realistic that he comes back, but you see that dude, he is still in great shape. He can still play. Then another guy on the other end of the spectrum, Glenn Big Baby Davis. There was a report out yesterday. I think it was from him that he also wanted to make a comeback. I would love to see Big Baby back in the league, slim, looking good, playing it, playing, you know, good basketball. Not going to happen, but it would be nice to see. And then my last one, it's not really a comeback to the NBA because he didn't play, but he's a guy who really didn't get the chance to be NBA player. Isaiah Austin had the heart condition a couple years back. Wasn't able to be drafted. He obviously, people remember, he was at the NBA draft and kind

of honored for that. And right now he's playing overseas. I hope he does well and I hope it gets the opportunity, even just a sign with the G League team to get that chance to really be back in the NBA pipeline would be nice to see because he's a great kid and he's a good talent too. The health thing is so scary, but obviously one of those that comes to mind is Bosch, right? Because it just ended. He was still really good, right?

He was still really good. And doesn't Chris Bosch feel like the kind of, feels like he could be like Sam Perkins and still standing in a corner knocking down threes in like 10 more years? For sure, he can still be effective. Right? So that one stinks.

I always I always love the jimmer And he's killing it in China now, right? His new shoe looks great I'm not a shoe guy, but his shoe looks awesome I loved the jimmer It just never took We say this, you know, you're talking about some of these other guys playing overseas So I ran into this guy

Who I've known from a long time ago And he's a guy that he played He had a couple different 10-day contracts in the NBA But generally he has had a career over in China In fact, he is going back later this week, I believe, to China. His name's Lester Hudson. He was a Memphis High School great and has gone on to play professionally.

And so anyways, I run into Lester the other day, and I'm talking to him, and he was telling me about his team in China. He's like, you know, he's like, we're going to be really good. Like, we would have a chance at the title this year. And I was like, oh, yeah? And he's like, yeah, you know how you get two Americans, right, on these teams? He goes, you know who my other American is? And I was like, who?

He said, Brandon Bass. And I was like, what? Brandon Bad? I was like, really? Yeah. I didn't know he was over in China to play with Brandon Bass. And then he was like, and he's like, in our league's going to be good. He's like, Ty Lawson's there now.

Brandon Jennings is over there now. Like, every then there was a bunch of guys that signed in China that I didn't even know. I didn't even though they went to China. Did you know Ty Lawson went to China? I missed that. I remember Lawson and China. I didn't know. I kind of forgot Bass signed.

there. I think there was something I owed it, maybe a couple months ago when he didn't get signed or a couple weeks ago rather, but I didn't, I kind of forgot all about that. I'm wondering how will no pass bass bass perform in China. That's going to be fun to watch. He could put up some big ass numbers. Yeah. So one of the things that came

up when we were, now when we were going to discuss this was it's hard. You know what's made this kind of hard? Was the big three, that tournament? And that kind of stuff, because you watch it. It's like, okay. Like, I absolutely would say Iverson, right?

But now you can't say him. It's like, I don't want to see that. I just, I don't want to know. I would have said, like, I would have said like Alan Iverson. I mean, I'd love to see him go out there. Like, I promise you, this guy would be getting, you know, buckets until the, you know, until the casket drops. And then you watch the big three.

He's like, actually, no, we won't. He won't. He won't. He was scoring this shit. And I'm like, oh, man, this isn't fun anymore, right? So it's almost like, I'd be interested in seeing the Marbury thing because evidently he could still play. I'll give you one. And it's funny, he tried to make the comeback a couple years ago, and I think was in the D league for a minute, was Baron Davis.

Baron Davis would be a fun way. Baron Davis. Yeah, because he was. That would be a good one. Yeah, because he, because he, somebody, you go pull this up on. YouTube is his hilarious he so we went and I think it was a D league he played in and click on the game highlights this dude was shooting from like 50 feet away Kevin like you don't even care he was just pulling up and if he like got in some kind of great shape or something uh I'd like that

for sure you know uh you know him or a Nash or somebody like that if they could play and give you some backup minutes right that would be more more fun. All right. And then the last question that we are going to get to today. There's been a lot of focus on the rookie class. What second year player is going to take the big leap? You are, you wrote, are going to be writing, or I guess I've already written and they're

going to be filing, but an article that's going to be coming out tomorrow the next day about this particular subject. Everybody's going to be talking about all these great rookies and faults and ball and Tatum and on and on and on. So what about last year? rookies, the guys that this upcoming year, we think, could take the big second year leap. Is there somebody first that comes to mind for you? Yes.

There's a player who is in his second year who has been just like falling down all those redraft lists behind the likes of like Gershawne Yadu Selle and Juan Hernan Gomez, a guy who's left off all the forward-looking top 100 lists. and he's Brandon Ingram. I am amazed how much he's been overlooked just after one kind of disappointing year when I thought, at least in my opinion, the expectation going in was like, this probably isn't going to be a great year for him because he's so thin and his body needs to go so far.

And so many, and his jump shot still wasn't quite there yet as a rookie. I didn't expect him to do much of anything as a rookie. And I thought by the end of the year, he made some pretty good progress. He's a guy who was a late bloomer in high school. It took him a while to get going his freshman year at Duke. He got off to a really bad start. I remember vividly writing an article in December of his freshman season at Duke, just kind of saying, well, here's what we need to see from Ingram moving forward.

Otherwise, he's going to be a disappointment. And Jerry Stackhouse, who at the time wasn't coach for the Raptors, I believe, he was one of like Ingram's trainers, and he responded to it like, hey, man, chill out. You know, he's going to be fine. And I was like, I know, and he will be. And that's the way I feel still today. Ingram will be good. All right, I will say this.

I actually would say Ingram, too, and here's the deal. There's the reports that he grew two inches over the summer. He's got the 7-3 wingspan. He saw him in Summer League just for that very short amount of time at the beginning, and he was awesome. He looked great in that game. And the other thing is there's an article that I just read recently by a guy named Frank Frank Urbina.

writes for a hoops hype. And the whole article was why Brandon Ingram is poised for a breakout season. And I already loved Ingram anyway. But he gives all these numbers. And I know a lot of the numbers weren't very good on him. But he gives a lot of these numbers. And he puts it in the context of how old the guy is, right? His age.

And when you see it, right, when you see it from that perspective about what he did. And it said one of the stats was he's the fifth player in league. history to have at least 150 assists, 53 pointers, 36 blocks for a season at the 8, before the age of 19. The other five guys were Kobe, Carmelo, LeBron, and Durant.

I mean, like, damn. Right? I mean, you do, he's still, he's so young. You know, he's got all the tools. I'm with you, right? So he stands out for sure as a guy that can make a, they'll make the leap. And I am, I'm shy.

at what you just said about some of these redraft lists and where they're saying he could possibly go. You know, one of the big candidates is Jalen Brown for sure, right? I mean, you know more and you have seen more of Jalen than I have, but it's rather clear he is going to get a lot of opportunity, and he certainly showed flashes, including during the postseason last year, where a lot of people wanted to get some Jalen Brown stock. Could you see it with him? I could definitely see it with him.

I think Marka Smart is the guy who could really be the breakout player with an increased opportunity. I think it might sound counterintuitive because he's a guard, but I think he could be the guy that actually takes on the quote unquote Jay Crowder role, at least to start the season. But absolutely, Jalen Brown could be ready to take a leap as long as he improves like decision making and ball handling. In those areas, he definitely could be a breakout candidate. I'm just not sure the opportunity will be there like it could be for. I give you another one.

And it's because I really like the guy coming out of college, and I know his knees were a factor, but Denzo Valentine. I can absolutely see him having a way better season, way better than he did. He's good. I think that's a really good one. He was a four-year college player. Took him a while. He could dribble.

He can dribble. He can pass. He can shoot. You know, he can do all kinds of things. and I did like him coming out. I did not think that that was by any means a goofy pick. I liked that pick for them. And it was just a bad first season.

And just never forget, once upon a time, there was a player that was also a four-year college player that averaged 13 minutes a game, shot 32% from the field, 21% from three, averaged three points and three rebounds. and it was Draymond Green. Draymond.

Again, I'm not saying Teddell Bada is going to be Draymond Green. I'm just saying there are example after example that if you assess the guy based upon his rookie season, you could make a huge mistake. Right? And so...

100%. You've got to be patient. Got to be patient with a lot of guys. And so I kind of stick with what I thought initially, which was, I thought Valentine could be a really solid pro, and I still believe that. And obviously he's gotten, you know, in the absence of Jimmy Butler, now we're going to see, right? Now we're going to see. It is important.

You can't totally stick to your initial evaluation. You need to revise it, but you can't also just throw it all away after one bad year. And so for someone like Denzel Valentine who did have athletic questions entering the league, You need to give him time to acclimate, especially when he had inconsistent opportunity in a really bad situation. Give him time, and I hope he gets consistent opportunity this year because he's a high IQ player who can stroke the hell out of threes. Good passer. He could be a player if he gets a chance. By the way, in our original guy that we both agreed on Brandon Ingram, Kevin Durant, the real Kevin Durant, did not, he didn't scoff at that at all when he has gotten the Ingram comps.

right? When people say that, he does not scoff at that. You know, and a lot of times it's like, let the guy be his own guy or whatever. And that's crazy, but he clearly has a tremendous amount of respect for Ingram and thinks, yes, he has a chance to be a great player. Or else you would kind of be like, eh, let's pump the brakes on that, right? He was number one on my board that year. I know DX had him number one as well.

head of sentence and I still feel that way right now. I think Ingram has a chance to be a really terrific player for a long time in the NBA. Guys like him at his height don't really have his passing ability, his playmaking ability, the ability to score from each level of the floor. He's a potential rare player if he puts it all together. It all comes down to that jumper though like it does for so many guys. Kevin, when we next speak, I will have already been to a media day. There will be tons of media day coverage coming up at the beginning of next week and then all the media day stuff will happen. There'll be a ton of stories that come out of that. And then preseason basketball

will be right around the corner. Can't wait. So, uh, thanks, brother. And, uh, we'll talk again next Tuesday. Looking forward to it, Chris. Maybe next week he'll do another 40 minutes on what Kevin Durant says at me today. Thanks to everybody out there for listening from all around the world. If you dig what you're

hearing, go give us a rating interview on iTunes. And we will talk to you next week.