There’s a lot being said about Kevin Durant lately and Gilbert Arenas doesn’t like it. Dennis Schroder’s comments now, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘bus driver’ remarks for years, and certain fans have been vile about KD’s legacy. Arenas has been his most passionate backer throughout it. That showed when he got into a 30-minute shouting match with Rashad McCants on Gil’s Arena this week demanding respect for Durant.

He apparently brought this subject up on the show’s group chat before speaking about it on the show. “We give credit to the people who stayed home… Steph’s [Curry] legacy, we get to use four championships for his legacy. KD was part of two, but he don’t get his credit for those two. So we don’t say yeah you get to cement your legacy because you have two rings. We say oh you left and you went over here,” is the crux of the problem Arenas has with how the NBA community treats Durants.

Durant left OKC after the Warriors had beaten them in the playoffs and Steph Curry had won a championship the year before. He won two more with the Dubs and was Finals MVP both times, then went to Brooklyn. Curry would win his fourth chip in 2022 without KD on the team. So a narrative started to spread that KD was not a contributing factor in the Warriors’ 2017 and 2018 wins. Charles Barkley’s bus rider agenda only furthered that notion. At that time, Arenas reminded Chuck that Shaq teases him for not winning a championship either.

“It’s easy to pick on Kevin Durant,” Arenas said about the ‘narrative.’ Another perspective that’s pushed is that the Warriors, via Draymond Green, lured KD to the Bay to have an answer to Bron. But because the team went 73-9 in the previous season, nobody would believe that the Dubs needed KD and it was easier to believe he made the decision to coast to a championship.

Arenas once more is defending Durant’s legacy. When Rashad McCants drew parallels to LeBron James’ The Decision that led him from Cleveland to Miami, Gil absolutely lost his chill. He doesn’t think superstar players like LeBron and Michael Jordan got nearly enough hate for leaving teams where they ‘cemented their legacy’ so to speak.

The narrative on Durant has changed from person to person. Arenas though has remained consistent.

It’s Gil and KD vs everyone

Recently, Dennis Schroder called Durant “weak” for his apparent jibe to him and the German team. Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe ripped into the Brooklyn Nets player. Interestingly, SAS also called Durant ‘weak’ before. Smith said in 2016, “I’m viewing it as the weakest move I’ve ever seen from a superstar, plain and simple.” He’d double down on it in 2023 even though Durant was in Phoenix.

Durant and his then teammate, Kendrick Perkins have been feuding since that move with the latter claiming KD took the “coward’s way out.” The guys at TNT, including Reggie Miller held the same opinion.

But Arenas is not cut from the same cloth. Prominently in 2020, Arenas clashed with Perkins on Instagram in a (since deleted) lengthy post. He summarily said that Durant “had no choice” but to leave because, “OKC was moving backwards.” Durant showed his appreciation for Arenas’ post in the comments.

Feelings about the big move run high even a decade later. What do you think about Arenas’ stance?

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.