Kevin Durant Rips Former Thunder Teammate Enes Kanter for Talking Trash to Him From Bench

Here’s what Kevin Durant had to say about the trash talk he exchanged with Enes Kanter during the Thunder/Warriors game on Thursday night.

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Complex Original

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Enes Kanter didn’t play much for the Thunder against the Warriors on Thursday night—he only logged three minutes and didn’t score during the game—but he was trending on Twitter for most of the night after he got into what appeared to be a pretty heated exchange with former teammate Kevin Durant towards the end of the second quarter. Kanter said something to KD from the bench, KD said something back, and the TNT cameras caught them jawing at one another for several moments before Kanter’s teammate Steven Adams intervened and told Kanter to knock it off. It was a tense moment:

It obviously wasn’t the only tense moment during the game. Prior to the start of the contest, all eyes were on KD and his other former teammate Russell Westbrook, with most NBA fans wondering how they would greet each other on the court after everything that happened this summer. As it turned out, they ignored one another as they stood at center court at Oracle Arena:

They also reportedly ignored each other at a chapel service that took place long before they took the court:

The newest member of the Thunder, Jerami Grant, did not ignore KD once the game started, though. He actually got the better of KD on a play in the first quarter and dunked on him before staring him down. That led to KD returning the favor in the form of some trash talk of his own a short time later:

But the KD/Kanter trash talk may be have been the most interesting exchange of the contest because it happened outside the normal flow of the game. It was also interesting because Kanter took several not-so-subtle shots at KD on social media over the summer after he decided to sign with the Warriors. So it seems as though there’s some real animosity there, and KD didn’t do much to help the situation after the game. When he was asked about the trash talk he exchanged with Kanter during his post-game press conference, he continued to trash talk him:

"How many minutes did he play?" KD asked reporters. "Three minutes. I’m trying to focus on whoever’s on the court. He's trying to talk to me from the sideline. But I’m sure he’s going to put something on Twitter tonight."

Kanter was a bit more diplomatic once the game was over. He was also asked about the trash talk, but he refused to elaborate on what was said between him and KD and said he was going to "keep going forward":

KD went on to say that he has "no ill will" towards anyone on the Thunder, despite all of the trash talking that took place:

But Westbrook seemed to take note of everything that was said on the court on Thursday night during the game, even though he wasn’t directly involved in any of it:

"The Warriors were doing a lot of trash talking," Westbrook said. "Apparently, I guess they talk a lot of trash now. We’ll see how that goes. But we’ll get ready for the next game, man. It’s one game, one loss for us. We’ll move on, get ready for the next one."

KD recorded 39 points in 31 minutes during the Warriors’ 122-96 win over the Thunder, while Westbrook tallied 20 points in 29 minutes. The teams will square off for the second time this season on Jan. 18.

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