“One Night, Kevin (Durant) Calls”: Skip Bayless Reveals Why Team USA Star Blasted Him in Intense Conversation

Kevin Durant takes the court, goes viral with his performance, and leaves. This has been the theme over the years with KD and the same happened after he made his triumphant return to the court against Serbia. However, after Durant’s jaw-dropping performance in the opening Paris Olympics game, a popular TV personality revealed a lesser-heard story about the Slim Reaper.

During the last episode of the Undisputed, Skip Bayless disclosed Durant’s forgotten history of beefing with nobodies. The Fox analyst even included himself on that list of people beneath KD’s level, with whom the NBA star should not be beefing with. Recalling the time when Durant played in Oklahoma alongside Russell Westbrook, Bayless said, “Well, 2011 would be the first time around where I started criticizing Russell Westbrook on TV for taking more shots than Kevin Durant.”

At that time, Russell Westbrook was known for his ball-dominating solo plays, which made him the focal point of the OKC offense. Durant was seeing far less of the ball than a player of his caliber should and that was called out by Bayless. 

“Because I’m a Durant guy. And I’m from Oklahoma City, so I’m saying, what Russ, what are you doing? And one night, Kevin calls over the Daily Oklahoma beat reporter and blasts me for defending him. And said that Skip doesn’t know sh about basketball. Oh, well, then you want Russ to take more shots than you do? Really?” Bayless revealed.

Russ’ one-man army-esque play continued for the following years, ultimately costing the OKC in the 2016 Western Conference Finals as the Dubs overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the series in 7. Despite the ill-fated incident, Bayless maintained his stance of being a KD guy. During the show, he even went as far as envisioning KD to be the Paris Olympics MVP for USAB over LeBron James.

Skip Bayless believes Kevin Durant will be Olympic MVP

LeBron James looks to be on a mission. He was a man possessed during Team USA’s exhibition game, often coming clutch, and the same continued in the Olympics opener. Despite getting outscored by KD’s 24, LeBron put on a show, as he scored 21 points for 9-13 shooting adorned with 7 rebounds and 9 assists. But still, Bayless feels it would not be enough to take the Olympic MVP award away from KD.

“LeBron, it feels like to me, is on a mission to do this, and I don’t disagree. Obviously, he’s trying to build a longevity legacy. And if he could do this at age 39, win his 3rd gold to Jordan’s 2, and especially if he could win the MVP, well, it’s just another feather in the cap,” Skip said.

When Team USA was trailing in the first quarter, Kevin Durant came in and what followed was one of the craziest flurries in all of basketball. Durant started a barrage of 3-pointers and shot 5-5 at a point. “That stretch by Kevin, I’ve just never seen anything like it before where I don’t even know if you’re gonna be able to play or not, and you’re a starter by nature, by birth. You start, and then you come in cold, which you never do with 2 minutes left in the Q1, and you make your first shot, and then you make your first 8 shots before halftime?” Bayless added.

“He changed everything. So he always changes everything because that’s what he does. And he is the ultimate nuclear weapon because he doesn’t need to touch the ball very much. I would have to give him a slight nod even though LeBron’s driven to do this, and LeBron’s got the sugar in his hands,” the analyst concluded.

Only time will tell if Bayless’ prediction comes true or not, but the way Kevin Durant started, nobody would be surprised if he ends up as Team USA’s MVP. What’s your take on KD’s performance against Serbia? Share your thoughts in the comments.

To absorb more interesting stories, watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where the prodigy puts Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr under the pump with loaded NBA questions and more in this video below.