Kevin Durant didn’t give the media much to go on as he spoke this morning in Washington, where the Thunder will play the Wizards tonight, but he elaborated on the remark in which he called the attention he received the last time he played in Washington “disrespectful,” as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater relays. The Wizards showed a photo of Durant edited to depict him in a Wizards jersey on their scoreboard when the Thunder visited Washington last season, but Durant doesn’t pin any blame on the adulation from Washington fans.
“Nah, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with what the fans do,” Durant said. “Me, I’m just thinking as a player on the other side. Fans gonna do what they gonna do. I appreciate all the support going our way. But I’m just looking at it as an opposing player and if I was on that team and they came in here and did that, I wouldn’t like it. But the fans, hey, they support us. Throughout the whole league, they make it what it is.”
See more on the Wizards and other news from the Southeast Division:
- Several people around the league wonder if the Wizards would let Durant decide the fate of coach Randy Wittman if the former MVP wants to sign with the team next summer, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com. Wittman’s contract is partially guaranteed for 2016/17.
- Magic center Dewayne Dedmon is seeing a more clearly defined role under new coach Scott Skiles, including spot starts while Nikola Vucevic deals with a bruised right knee, as Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders examines. Dedmon is entering the final season of his contract.
- The Hawks drafted Adreian Payne 15th overall last year but traded him midway through his rookie season to the Timberwolves, a move that caught him off guard, he admits to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He wasn’t in Atlanta long, and D-League assignments took him away from the team for much of his time on the Hawks roster, but he said he still learned plenty from the veterans on the Hawks, Vivlamore notes.