2016 Sports Story that Mattered to Me: “Friends, How Many of Us Have Them?”
2016 was a doozy of a year, right?
We lost Bowie, Alan Thicke, Gene Wilder, Prince, George Michael, and so many more.
On the sports side, we lost the great Muhammed Ali.
Let’s just stop there. Time to focus on the positive.
LeBron gave Cleveland its first title since your existence, Peyton got to ride the Bronco off into the sunset, Simone Biles stole our hearts at the Olympics, The Cubs won the World Series, Finn Balor set Raw on fire before injuring his shoulder, Steph taught us that his Warriors were human by blowing a 3-1 lead in the finals, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
With all of that the most interesting storyline in 2016, to me, was the perceived brotherhood that existed between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
Quick recap:
During the 2016 playoffs, the Thunder had the Warriors on the ropes, leading a seven-game series 3-1. The Warriors would storm back and take the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals. 2016 had a theme of teams blowing 3-1 leads but I digress. After the NBA season ended Kevin Durant hit free agency. As you can imagine the NBA world was on its head while KD took meetings in the Hamptons. He would ultimately choose to leave OKC and join Steph Curry and crew in Golden State.
Of course, KD couldn’t join a super team without criticism. Old players, current players, washed up players, scrubs who think they can play in the league, the guy who constantly fouls during pick up games, and everyone under the sun had something to say about his decision.
The one opinion everyone wanted? His now former teammate and “best friend” Westbrook. On the surface, both have acted like a mature married couple who divorced. Well wishes, and I’ve moved on have spilled out of their mouths but their behavior has said something completely different.
Exhibit A:
Russell Westbrook has arrived. (Of note: One of Kevin Durant's hobbies is photography): pic.twitter.com/Tvus1gnxx4
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— Royce Young (@royceyoung) November 4, 2016
Exhibit B:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHcsHe1A3Js/
I must selfishly admit that I enjoy petty Westbrook, a lot.
In a Rolling Stone interview, Durant claimed that they weren’t even close in the first place. He also claimed that Westbrook didn’t communicate with him during his decision process.
This wouldn’t be he-said, he-said without some claim that what Durant said was false. Nick Collison claimed that Russell went “above and beyond” in an OKC pitch in a steakhouse in LA.
Since this drama has unfolded it seems like basketball has taken a backseat. Which is wild because Westbrook and Durant are top-five players. Both teams have already met once and OKC lost by 26.
It should be pointed out that since Durant left Westbrook is the real MVP. Since the beginning of the season, the OKC start has posted 16 triple doubles. It’s like he went back in time and stole The Big O’s talent Monstar style.
This relationship, or lack thereof, is only going to intensify as the season progresses. If we’re lucky we’ll get to see a rematch of last years playoff series.
Things dreams are made of.
As always, thanks for reading.
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