In his first media session since the All-Star game, Rockets star Kevin Durant immediately faced questions about rumors that went viral on social media over the weekend. Durant, who was accused of using a burner Twitter account to disparage current and former teammates in group chats, dismissed the speculation without explicitly denying that the account belonged to him, per Sam Amick and William Guillory of The Athletic and Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required).
“I know you gotta ask these questions, but I’m not here to get into Twitter nonsense,” Durant said. “I’m just here to focus on the season, keep it pushing. But I get you all have to (ask).”
The account speculated to be Durant’s, which used the handle @GetHigher77, took shots at Suns guard Devin Booker, former Suns head coach Frank Vogel, Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr of the Warriors, and Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. of the Rockets, among others.
Asked if he’d spoken to his teammates about the rumors, Durant replied, “My teammates know what it is. We’ve been locked in the whole season. Enjoyed our break. Had a great practice today, looking forward to the road trip.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Although he officially signed a 10-day contract with the Spurs on Tuesday, it’s unclear when Mason Plumlee will be able to suit up for his new team. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link), head coach Mitch Johnson said that Plumlee – who underwent groin surgery at the end of December – won’t be active for the team’s games in Austin on Thursday or Saturday.
- Asked on Wednesday at his introductory press conference as a Knick what went wrong for him in San Antonio, former No. 9 overall pick Jeremy Sochan suggested he got “no real opportunity” with the Spurs under Johnson, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). “It is what it is. It’s a deep team,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t see eye-to-eye with Coach. I’m just blessed to be somewhere to grow.”
- Chiding from teammate Scotty Pippen Jr. prompted Grizzlies forward GG Jackson II to adopt a more aggressive attitude on the court, Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes in a subscriber-only story. In his third NBA season, Jackson has become a more efficient scorer and a reliable presence on defense, but it took a push from Pippen and other veterans to get him there. “I would see him in practice and he would be one of the most athletic guys in the gym, then he would get in the game and wouldn’t even dunk or he would only dunk on fast breaks,” Pippen said. “I’m excited every time I see him dunk and play physical because now guys are starting to get out of the way, or he’s dunking on them.”
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
lol…hiding behind a twitter account(the KD special)
People still use Twitter? Kinda outdated. It used to be worthwhile. Now it is just filled with AI bots and trolls.
Sochan was given the golden opportunity to be the PG in his sophomore year. Pop had Tre Jones come off the bench for him, until 50 games in, when a player asked Jeremy: “are you the point guard of this team?”, after he was being silent and awful in practice. Jeremy replied, “ask them” – Referring to the coaching staff. That lack of confidence was justified due to the team‘s horrible record under his reigns, and resulted in him losing the point guard position.
He’s just not a winning player. He used to play dumb hard defense during his rookie season, but I guess he wanted a role that was more about skill, coming into the season, perhaps because of his competitiveness and wanting to still be a playmaker. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t have the skill level requiredin order to be part of a winning team, let alone a Spurs team with championship aspirations.
This upcoming short Knicks tenure is going to be a very hard slap back to reality into his face. “Next stop; Bundesliga!”.
He’s not a point guard. They tried to make him into a completely different player. It was stupid. Would Shaq be a good PG? How about Wemby?
It was a tanking tactic, because they already knew Sochan just doesn’t have what it takes to win on the highest level.
Just look at how avdija and Jalen Johnson responded when suddenly prompted to play point guard.
I think that there are infinite ways to play your position. When you break down what’s the common trait behind the most successful PG’s you see it is mostly about leadership.
Wemby would become a good PG if the spurs needed him to do it and built their roster around that, like the nugs did by pairing Jokic with a shooter that’s listed as PG in Murray.
In a different Spurs topic, I think that with his length though, the spurs best offense would be to have someone else shoot it, while when wemby crashes the board. It doesn’t matter how good he gets his ball handling and shot are.. His presence going to the rim gives the shooter so much more confidence because they know that if they mess they probably have the offensive rebound.
If Wemby shoot it, you’re putting all your eggs in that basket. Fox and Castle can get to their shots very easily, and if the Spurs can figure out how to consistently give up good shots for great shots, they are winning the championship, because there’s no answer for Wemby when the Spurs are efficient
This is just weak criticism. Pointing out 2 overachievers like Avdija and Jalen Johnson doesn’t make Sochan awful.
“That lack of confidence was justified due to the team‘s horrible record under his reigns, and resulted in him losing the point guard position.”
This is absurd.
Prior to a late October game against the LA Clippers, Popovich called Sochan “our official 2023-24 experiment to see what happens there.” The experiment failed.
His “losing the PG position” had nothing to do with his confidence, it had to do with his fitness for the role.
link to espn.com
It was definitely a tanking ploy…
But was his last opportunity to really shine in a position he could fill…
He doesn’t fill the 4 or the wing positions well… nor is a good small ball 5…
KD been silent on social media ever since lol
Maybe Kevin Durant has a burner on hoops rumors too? Myabe its me? 😳
Confirmed it was Sillivan