Charles Barkley, Kevin Durant bury the hatchet over long-running feud
There’s been no love lost between Charles Barkley and Kevin Durant in recent years, but the pair appear to have buried the hatchet.
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NBA icons Kevin Durant and Charles Barkley, once foes, have buried the hatchet to do an interview series together on their respective platforms.
The New York Post reports for at least the past several years, Barkley and Brooklyn Nets star Durant had the kind of beef that makes for great headlines. In 2019, former player turned pundit Barkley said Durant did not have the “mental makeup” to play in New York City.
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“If he’s arguing with these teenagers online, he’s not going to be able to deal with that New York media,” Barkley said at the time. “He’s a great person, he’s a great player. I don’t think he has the mental makeup to play in New York. That’s just my personal opinion.”
Last year, Durant gave Barkley an awkward post-game interview filled with one-word answers after a Nets game.
The NBA on TNT crew just roasted Kevin Durant's postgame interview because they thought it was low energy 👀 pic.twitter.com/eA69Pz9Ylw
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) December 23, 2020
Last January, Durant called Barkley an “idiot” for saying that athletes deserved preferential vaccine treatment and wrote on Instagram of former-players-turned-media-critics — presumably including Barkley — that “them old heads need to go enjoy retirement”.
But this is all water under the bridge now.
Durant gave an interview to Barkley, in which he gave thoughtful answers as opposed to those of the one-word variety, on TNT’s Inside the NBA on Wednesday, and they taped a podcast that was also released on Durant’s internet platform, The Boardroom.
In the TNT interview, Barkley expressed his oft-stated issues with social media and the frivolity of responding to trolls, while Durant maintained that he likes being in the mix and no longer takes it personally.
They also discussed The Boardroom, where Durant says he stays involved in projects like their documentary on ex-NBA player and coach Stephon Marbury from beginning to end, but also allows the talented producers they’ve hired to do their jobs.
Finally, they discussed what it meant for both of them to be included in the NBA’s 75 greatest players list in conjunction with the league’s 75th anniversary.
“It makes it feel like you’re doing something right,” Durant said. “It’s just a real feeling. You put in so much work, to be recognised for something like that.
“To be in the same conversation with all the greats, something that we can talk about. It’s sweet. It’s one of those honours you always remember.
“Like you said, I called up my mum, I called my AAU coach from when I was eight-nine years old — people who were around for the journey. You hit them up because they know how special the game is to you.”
This story first appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Charles Barkley, Kevin Durant bury the hatchet over long-running feud
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