Kevin Durant Calls Cuban An ‘Idiot’ For Westbrook Comments

Kevin Durant heard what Mark Cuban said about teammate Russell Westbrook and responded after his Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks and actually called Cuban an “idiot” for the comments. Cuban is known for saying some outlandish and inflammatory things over the years that he owned the Dallas Mavericks, and the “idiot” comments that Durant was referring to was when he said that Russell Westbrook was not a superstar. The response, while harsh, was simply Durant being Durant.

One thing that makes Kevin Durant so beloved in the Oklahoma City area is his intense loyalty towards his teammates. When people like Mark Cuban point to Durant as being the superstar of the team, he will always point to Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka and refuse to take complete credit for the team’s success.

However, when Cuban said that Westbrook was not a star, he was looking at last year when Durant missed most of the season and Westbrook was unable to lead the Thunder to the playoffs without the big forward. Westbrook was often accused of taking too many shots, possibly one of Cuban’s criteria for criticism, and trying to win on his own instead of helping get his teammates involved in the win. That, according to Cuban, is not the sign of a superstar.

The Daily Oklahoman reported that Durant was not too happy about those comments. Despite the fact that Cuban called Durant a superstar, Durant refused to accept the compliment and refused to allow Cuban to badmouth his teammate. Durant held nothing back when he called Cuban an “idiot.”

“Hold up. He’s a idiot. Don’t listen to him. He’s a idiot. That’s what we’ve got to say about that. He’s a idiot. Next question.”

Russell Westbrook was sitting beside Durant when he made the comments about Cuban, and his reaction was priceless, only changing slightly but showing that he appreciated his teammates’ words. It also makes sense because this was the best season of Westbrook and Durant’s careers as a unit. Durant may not have won the NBA scoring title this year after winning it multiple times before.

Guessing Kevin Durant has eliminated Mavs as free agent destination. Asked about Mark Cuban insult of Westbrook, responded "He's an idiot."

— Matt Winer (@MattWinerTV) April 26, 2016

Despite Cuban’s opinion, the two Thunder players ranked second and third in scoring, which says a lot for their work together on the court. NewsOK reported that Westbrook averaged 23.5 points, 10.4 assists, and 7.8 rebounds a game, the first person to do that in a season since Oscar Robertson in 1965-66. Durant’s 28.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists are the first time a player reached all three of those levels since Michael Jordan in 1988-89. It was an amazing year for both players.

To slightly make up for Cuban’s “idiot” comments, Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle took Westbrook and Durant’s side over Cuban’s. He was very respectful of the star players skills and performances, disagreeing with Cuban’s assessment.

“There’s three superstars out there Westbrook, Durant and (Dirk) Nowitzki. Dirk’s an all-time great player. That’s been proven. Both Durant and Westbrook are destined. I just think they’re that good. I thought Westbrook played beautiful basketball this year. I don’t think there were many people in the basketball world who thought he would be able to turn his game into distributing and scoring. He was special to watch all year.”

With that said, the important thing to note is that the Cuban-owned Dallas Mavericks are going home and the Oklahoma City Thunder are heading out to play the San Antonio Spurs in the next round of the NBA playoffs. There is a chance that Cuban’s comments were used to try to get under Westbrook’s skin, but it didn’t work. Westbrook led the team with 36 points while Durant added 33 of his own, the dual-superstar play that the Oklahoma City Thunder fans have grown to love.

With the Thunder now looking at their future opponents, the war of words between Kevin Durant and Mark Cuban is over for now. At least, unless Cuban makes more comments about the Thunder stars. In that case, expect Durant to stand up and call Cuban an “idiot” once again in defense of his teammates.

[Photo by AP Photo/Rick Bowmer]