Ex-Warriors Star Defends Kevin Durant Calling Out Charles Barkley’s Hypocrisy

Former Phoenix Suns player Charles Barkley and current Phoenix Suns player Kevin Durant have been making headlines for quite some time now. Durant, who has two championship wins and two finals MVP titles to his name, has garnered a wide range of followers, with even a few prominent critics singing his praise. Barkley, however, has not been one of them, which has reportedly led to increased tension between the two basketball legends.

While the two continue to exchange digs with each other, other representatives from the NBA world have also started coming forward and voicing their opinion on the same. A former Warriors star, who always has something to add to the conversation, most recently came forward to voice his support for the 35 year old.

Gilbert Arenas highlights Kevin Durant as a different kind of leader

A few hours ago, former Golden State Warriors player Gilbert Arenas uploaded another episode of his ‘Gil’s Arena’ show. The episode was a special one, since it marked the one-year anniversary since the launch of ‘Gil’s Arena’.

In the midst of the conversation, Arena’s co-host Josiah Johnson highlighted KD’s recent comment, which rebuffed Barkley’s criticism by stating “I don’t feel like I need people to call me a leader, but I also don’t feel like I want people to say I’m not one either”. When asked about his thought on the comment, Gilbert Arenas called the situation a “double edged sword for most guys”. He stated that, Durant, just like Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic is someone who is a “quiet player”. According to Arenas, Durant is not someone who would qualify as a leader in the eyes of the media, since he doesn’t show the type of “energy” and the “rah rah rah” that the media allegedly expects.

“A player like KD, he wouldn’t look like a leader if you’re judging leader off of sitting there and grilling people” said Arenas. “If you ask his teammates, he’s the first one there, last one there, he’s calling us like ‘Yo, you need to go to the gym’. That is a leader too.”

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Arenas stated that whether KD is a leader depends on how people define a leader. Furthermore, he stated that anyone who has never played high level basketball should not get to judge whether a player is a leader or not. Even though Charles Barkley does not belong in that category, Arenas had a separate criticism prepared for the 76ers legend.

“I can show all of his (Barkley’s) ‘un-leadership’ qualities” said Arenas to conclude his point.

How did the Barkley-Durant rift begin?

The tensions between Charles Barkley and Kevin Durant escalated a few days ago. During the All-Star game, Barkley took to his ‘NBA on TNT’ show to highlight some choice words for the Suns player.

“No disrespect to Kevin. Kevin’s a follower. He’s not a leader” said Barkley during his segment. “He’s proven that on all his stops”.

Despite stating that his opinion was not meant as a sign of ‘disrespect’, Durant took it to be just that. In the following days, he would criticize Barkley’s stance by stating that he wouldn’t listen to someone who isn’t “in the gym” with him.

“It’s just part of TV. They needed something to fill a segment up. So they talk about some negative, but if you’re not in the gym, I don’t respect your opinion if you’re not in the gym with me,” said Durant.

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What are your thoughts on the ongoing Kevin Durant-Charles Barkley alleged feud? Let us know in the comments down below.