Russell Westbrook’s ‘decision making’ in games drove Kevin Durant out of Thunder, reveals Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless' beef with Russell Westbrook started after his play forced Kevin Durant to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook from their times with the Oklahoma City Thunder
Longtime reporter and analyst Skip Bayless never envisioned that his hometown would get an NBA team. It made it even better for him when Kevin Durant became the face of the Oklahoma City Thunder. But he was not so thrilled when KD left Russell Westbrook to be the leader as he departed for the Golden State Warriors.
By that time, Skip Bayless had already started to make his opinion clear about Russell Westbrook. To this day, he has kept his opinion the same—rather it became worse during the star’s time with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bayless even started calling the superstar ‘Westbrick’, which ended up becoming viral.
That affected the triple-double machine, and he publicly asked the media to not slander his family’s name. These situations pointed to a beef between the two, even though Westbrook never openly talked about Bayless. Bayless was recently asked about Westbrook on the All the Smoke podcast, to which he replied:
In Oklahoma City, they got KD, Russ and James. Right away little brother starts taking more shots than big brother. That’s not right. Remember, Kevin chose to leave Russ. And I was told by someone very close to Kevin Durant, ‘He finally decided he’d never win with Russ as his primary decision maker’.
Skip Bayless on All the Smoke
From his words it seems Skip Bayless did not appreciate that his favorite player had to leave his hometown team just because of his teammate, as he detailed that Russell Westbrook was undermining Durant due to his decision making on the court.
Skip Bayless felt Warriors needed Kevin Durant to win against LeBron James
Skip Bayless has always praised Kevin Durant for his basketball skills. Time and again, he has raved that he has not seen such a brilliant shooter of the ball. On top of that, KD’s movement with the ball was not something the NBA has seen from a near seven-footer.
Those skills could not help his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder win the championship. But when he wanted to leave, the Golden State Warriors welcomed KD with open arms. Skip Bayless feels it was this move that stopped LeBron James from winning more NBA titles.
Steph, Klay, Draymond and Steve Kerr knew full well that they’re not gonna beat LeBron. There is no way that they were going to beat LeBron without Kevin. And Kevin tilted the playing field.
Skip Bayless on Kevin Durant’s move to Warriors
His point may have some validity as before Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to their first NBA title by beating them. He showed the basketball world how to beat one of the best teams in NBA history. To counter that, they needed Durant. The next two years was proof as the superstar led them to two straight NBA titles as Finals MVP.
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Joseph Varghese
(2265 Articles Published)