In one corner, we have a grown-ass man worth nearly $200 million who squanders his free time by threatening Michael Rapaport’s life—some would argue that’s a noteworthy cause—and creating burner accounts on Blue Ivy’s internet.
In the opposite corner, we have a Duke legend-turned-NBA-vet-turned-ESPN analyst who delivers insightful takes but may or may not be lying his entire ass off.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to identify which of these gentlemen you’re riding with.
On Tuesday, during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Jay Williams revealed an encounter he had with Durantula years ago at a holiday party. Apparently, the two-time NBA champ took issue with Williams comparing him to Giannis Antetokounmpo, and instead of allowing his Twitter fingers to do the talking, Durant instead opted to check Williams about it to his face.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present Exhibit A:
G/O Media may get a commission
And because Durant wastes no time clapping back at any and all who come for his throne—or in this instance, a perceived slight—he took to social media to respond accordingly after Williams’ story went viral.
First, he left a comment on Instagram dismissing Williams as a liar: “This is a fuckin lie. Jay Williams can NEVER speak for me, ever…”
Then he took to Twitter and emptied the rest of the clip:
“Mans will do anything to advance their careers in this media shit,” he tweeted. “Wanting to be accepted by an industry that will dispose of you whenever they please. Keep me out all that corny ass talk about [who’s] better and legacy and all that dumb ass shit. I don’t even talk like that.”
Now is J-Will lying? I have no idea. But there’s an unspoken rule in media that there are certain things you don’t disclose publicly. Those lines are even more rigid when you’ve played in the league prior to becoming a sports analyst and are considered a member of the NBA’s fraternity. So if this encounter did occur, clearly it wouldn’t be something that KD would want Williams sharing publicly. And if it didn’t, well…what would compel Williams to just outright lie about one of the most outspoken athletes in professional sports?
“Either KD didn’t say this and Jay Williams is lying or Jay Will[i]ams went on TV and dimed out a personal convo to make a headline on TV,” Bleacher Report’s Tyler Conway tweeted. “Either way, it’s a bad look.”
Pretty much.
J-Will has yet to respond to KD calling him a lying-ass liar, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. So what’s the moral of the story here? Some things are better left unsaid—especially when your credibility is at stake.
In other news, Giannis is down 0-2 in his series against the Nets and just got his ass kicked by 39 points. So if he has any aspirations to step up, make Williams proud, and not get swept, now would the opportune time to do so.
Source link