Kevin Durant has picked a side in this past week’s drama between the Golden State Warriors and Rodney McGruder of the Detroit Pistons.
Interestingly enough, Durant is riding with McGruder on this one.
This past Saturday, the Warriors and Pistons squared off. Following the game, McGruder approached the Golden State bench and exchanged words with Juan Toscano-Anderson.
As the situation unfolded, Klay Thompson was on guest broadcasting duties. When pressed on what had transpired, Thompson straight up ethered McGruder.
Rodney McGruder walked over to the Warriors bench after the game so the broadcast team asked Klay Thompson what was going on:
“This dude might be out the league soon, he might be mad about that. Who knows.” pic.twitter.com/dHEXu6dBqf
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) January 31, 2021
“I don’t know,” he said. “This guy might be out of the league pretty soon. He’s probably mad about that. Who knows? He’s over here trying to start something like he’s a good player or something. Bro, get out of here.”
Afterward, Draymond Green followed Thompson’s lead and also lit McGruder up.
First Klay… then Dray just eviscerating Rodney McGruder pic.twitter.com/fC9zmgbbxk
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) January 31, 2021
“When the f*** did Rodney McGruder become the tough guy on the team?” he asked. “I know ain’t nobody scared of no Rodney McGruder.”
While the internet collectively found it pretty funny that Thompson and Green went after McGruder, one person who didn’t appreciate it was his Pistons teammate, Wayne Ellington.
“First of all, I think is very unprofessional and definitely not classy for somebody to attack Rodney’s professional career the way that it was attacked,” Ellington said.
“Rodney, I’ve known him since we’ve played in Miami together with the Heat. He’s one of the most hard-working, humble and down-to-earth, guys that there is in this league. So, for somebody to try to attack him like that I think is very unfair.
“And then, guys call him, you know all this tough guy talking all this stuff. Rod has never, ever tried to portray or act like a tough guy ever in this league. To be honest, the guy over there, Juan, he’s the one who started the whole thing.
“Rod is a man of respect, like myself, and I felt like he took offense to whatever the guy was saying to me in the first half. I just kind of laughed it off and kept on going. But obviously stuck with Rod and as my brother, he took it upon himself to go and check the temperature on the situation, — and that’s what men do. We talk to each other eye-to-eye, face-to-face. So, you know there. There’s never been any type of some guy approach with Rod,” he continued.
Now we know what motivates Gronk to play so hard. https://t.co/xFnKnjoXQ4
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 24, 2021
“So, for Draymond to sit up and talk all that type of crazy stuff behind a microphone, I think that’s the fake tough guy stuff, to be honest with you.
“So, I’m only gonna talk about this situation once man and put it behind us. But I just I just think it’s unfair for them guys to attack my man, like that, and I appreciate Rod and I love him like a brother for whatever he did do that I know wasn’t tough guy stuff. He just probably walked over there to try to clear the air with the guy.”
Durant, as it turns out, agrees with Ellington. He made this clear by liking his comments regarding the McGruder situation on Instagram.
A few weeks back, Durant got brutally honest about Shaquille O’Neal going after Donovan Mitchell. He also publicly called Charles Barkley an idiot. Clearly he isn’t one to bite his tongue, ever, so his openness in this particular situation shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
That said – given the history that exists between Durant and the Warriors, it’s always interesting when he takes a stance that’s anti- whatever that franchise is doing.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ reaction to Jordyn Woods’ Buss It video speaks for itself.
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 26, 2021
Related: Steve Kerr Gets Honest About Draymond Green’s Plummeting Stats
