Durant frustrated with media: 'Y'all not my friends'
There's been a sense recently that we're seeing an edgier Kevin Durant, one a little angrier than the guy who wore a backpack to postgame news conferences or gives heartfelt, tearful tributes to his mother.
On Saturday, that became increasingly more clear at an NBA All-Star Weekend interview session. His bluntness began when asked about the job security of Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks, as reported by Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman.
"You guys really don't know (expletive)," Durant told media before channeling Marshawn Lynch.
To be honest, man, I'm only here talking to y'all because I have to. So I really don't care. Y'all not my friends. You're going to write what you want to write. You're going to love us one day and hate us the next. That's a part of it. So I just learn how to deal with y'all.
This may seem jarring to observers used to viewing Durant as Mr. Nice Guy. However, there have been signs of him breaking that mold for a while now, as evidenced in a September feature by USA Today's Sam Amick.
It's also possible teammate Russell Westbrook's dealings with certain media have rubbed off on Durant, but in all likelihood it's a wising up to life under the microscope as an NBA superstar at a time when his team finds itself under duress.
The team hasn't been in a fight to make the playoffs like this since Durant came into the league. The Thunder's lowest playoff seed in his career was a No. 8 in 2010 - yet that team won 50 games, eight more than the ninth-place Houston Rockets.