*Earlier this month, Kevin Durant explained to Bleacher Report why he thinks being LeBron James’ teammate could be challenging both on and off the court.
“So much hype comes from being around LeBron from other people. He has so many fanboys in the media. Even the beat writers just fawn over him. I’m like, we’re playing basketball here, and it’s not even about basketball at certain points. So I get why anyone wouldn’t want to be in that environment because it’s toxic. Especially when the attention is bulls-t attention, fluff. It’s not LeBron’s fault at all; it’s just the fact you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. Just get out of the way and let us play basketball.”
Durant thinks it’s the media who are creating this “toxic” environment. And while he and James eventually spoke on the phone about his comments, Lebron was not happy when he initially read it.
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In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, ‘Bron had this to say:
“I was a little pissed off when I first heard it – to be honest. I didn’t know where it stemmed from. So I was pissed, my family was pissed, and my friends was pissed. We just didn’t know why, at this point and time in the season, my name or what I’ve done in my career was kind of talked about like that. I don’t feel like it’s ever been toxic around me. And when I hear “toxic,” I automatically thought, “toxic” is like you don’t wanna be around that because it’s almost like a fatal disease.
“But got a phone call from KD. We talked about it. He mentioned how he felt and how he felt the story took a twist. And as a man, I don’t hold on to things too long. I’m too happy in my life right now, and I don’t hold on to anything that will take away from my happiness. … Listen, he told me how he felt, and he apologized on how it came out. And I said, All right. We moved on from there.”
James summed it all up by saying “he told me how he felt, and he apologized on how it came out. And I said, all right.”
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