Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant has taken notice of the ongoing slander centered around Los Angeles Lakers star Russell Westbrook, and doesn't condone it.
Durant began his career as teammates with Westbrook during their tenures with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the two seemed poised to contend for NBA titles for years to come before eventually parting ways. Now six years since the two shared the floor, Durant is standing in defense of Westbrook amid his ex-teammates' struggles, which have garnered much criticism.
"The Lakers got a big microscope on 'em so you gotta be on point every time," Durant said on the latest installment of "The ETCs with Kevin Durant" podcast. "If Russell miss a layup, it's gonna be blown out of proportion. If he miss a three, he might be 5-for-7 though, but he missed those two shots though. ... It's like now you're making him the butt of your jokes now. It's going to a point where it's like, 'Alright, I get the criticism for what he did that night,' but now it's starting to reach a different level of some (expletive) I don't understand."
Watch a snippet of the full episode here, per Boardroom video:
"Hopefully, he just keep hooping and block all that noise out and prove to everybody that they wrong about how they feel about his game and they mesh over there in LA," Durant added. "But when we play them, I hope they (expletive) but I hope all that stuff works out because I hate how they talk. The dialogue around our game is just so toxic at this point. And I get criticism but it's starting to turn into something else right now."
Since debuting with the Lakers, Westbrook has been the talk of the town, targeted heavily by critics for his underwhelming first season in Los Angeles -- shooting 29.8% from 3-point range and 66.7% from the free-throw line while averaging 18.5 points per game.
The 33-year-old veteran kicked off his latest campaign in strong fashion during NBA opening night on Tuesday. Westbrook notched a double-double against the Golden State Warriors, scoring 19 points with 11 rebounds while shooting 7-for-12 from the field en route to a 123-109 loss.
