NBA Superstar Kevin Durant Accused of Crossing Major Line, Intentionally Trying To Injure Player
According to at least one NBA player, the Warriors have a guy on their roster who serves no other purpose than to deliberately try to injure people.
But Zaza Pachulia is on the Pistons now.
Pipe down, imaginary person made up to drive the narrative. I’m not talking about him.
The NBA player making the accusation is Bobby Portis, and the player on the Warriors is Kevin Durant.
At issue is a sequence in which Durant allegedly tried to injure Portis by dragging his arm down in an apparent effort to rip it out of its socket:
Here is the play Bobby Portis is saying Kevin Durant tried to injure him on. A lot going on here but watch KD’s left arm/hand. #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/7SGj4MVcGu
— Jordan Maly (@JordanCMaly) January 13, 2019
Durant, for good measure, then slugged Portis in the gut with his free right hand before the two exchanged heated words and the referees stepped in to whistle a double-technical on the play.
After the game, Portis spoke to the Chicago Tribune, and he was not a happy camper, and not only because he suffered a sprained elbow on the play and had to leave the game.
“Yeah, that wasn’t inadvertent,” Portis said. “If I would have done that, I would have gotten a foul called on me. I guess it’s just who you’re playing against. Everything is officiated different toward whoever it is, but if you look back at the video at the time, it was obvious.’’
Portis also pointed out that in his own opinion, he’s been given short shrift by the referees recently, due in part to his reputation as a troublemaker after he got into a fight in practice with then-teammate Nikola Mirotic in 2017.
“Obviously, everything is officiated differently towards me,” Portis said softly before Saturday night’s game against the Jazz. “It’s because of that incident last year. Everybody thinks I’m this bad guy when really I’m a really good dude. Image is everything, and I guess that’s what my image is.’’
Mirotic ended up with a broken face — as in multiple fractures to facial bones — and a severe concussion from Portis’ meltdown.
Portis also makes no apologies for the very style of play that proves so antagonistic to those who play with and against him.
“I always play with an edge, play hard and kind of make these facial expressions to make it seem like I’m mad all the time on the court,” Portis told the Tribune. “It’s just who I am: play hard, bring an edge. I really can’t control the facial features I play with. It just happens. It’s kind of a gift and a curse.”
Well, that, plus when you’re the ninth-best player on a 10-33 team, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt against one of the league’s marketable golden boys on a team that’s won three titles and gone to the NBA Finals four straight years.
Durant reportedly did not apologize, something Portis seemed eager to point out.
“Ain’t no apologies in basketball. Nobody feels sorry for nobody. That’s how it goes,” Portis said.
It would seem that if you want to get Durant’s attention, you should probably hit him up on Twitter or Instagram, since he’ll argue with 12-year-olds on that forum.
The Bulls lost the game in Oakland 146-109, a game in which the Warriors outscored the Bulls by 42 points during the 28 minutes Durant was on the floor.
During the 17 minutes Portis spent out there? The Bulls were minus-23.
Intentionally trying to injure another player is the lowest play in sports. It’s something that should yield season-long suspensions and possible lifetime bans. It also, of course, makes a player persona non grata in the city where the injured player’s team plays — Zaza Pachulia’s not getting the key to San Antonio any time soon.
And if indeed Durant was trying to injure Portis, the league office should take a long look at the situation and decide what discipline is warranted.
But on some level, you have to consider the source — and ever since the incident on the practice court with Mirotic, Portis has lost the benefit of the doubt.
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