Kevin Durant has been an easy target for NBA fans and analysts this season. The 2-time NBA champion failed to help the Brooklyn Nets have a meaningful postseason run this season. In fact, if anything, the Nets were utterly humiliated in the playoffs.
After a lot of ups and downs in the regular season, the Nets barely managed to qualify for the 2022 playoffs. And come playoff time, most fans expected the superstars of the Nets to shift gears and at least qualify to the NBA Finals.
In reality, the Nets were knocked out of the playoffs in the opening round. They were swept by the Boston Celtics as they lost the series 4-0.
As a result, many analysts started to disregard, KD's achievements even before his time with the Nets. Former NBA superstar turned analyst Charles Barkley was among them. Barkley revealed that during Durant's championship run with the Warriors, he was a bus rider, not a bus driver. It was clearly a shot at Durant's accomplishments.
Although almost over a month has passed by since the incident, people are still weighing in opinions about this beef between the two. Most recently, former Washington Wizards superstar Gilbert Arenas talked about the same and he took KD's side.
(Starts at 3:00)
"I think old school is having a problem with who they were. You gotta remember the new school is watching everything. We're watching you get teased by Shaquille O'Neal every chance you get that you haven't won a championship. What do you think? The new school of I don't want to be that. ... You trumped me with the ring every time we get to argue. You see it, Shaq does one of these. Now, as a player, I need that. You can't Trump me with rings. Just like with Kevin Durant, Charles Barkley can't say nothing to him. He pulls the ring like I got the ring. I got two of them. I got the two Finals MVPs."
He continued, "That's where, like, you don't want to be; in that category. So you want to be a bus driver to the point where I want to get to the destination. So if I need someone to help me drive the bus a little bit better, okay. I'm not gonna wait until I'm on my last leg, which Charles Barkley did. So when all these guys go I didn't try to win it, yeah you did. You tried to go to Houston. You went to Houston to try to win a championship."
As Arenas pointed out, no matter what Chuck says to Durant, the Brooklyn Nets superstar will always be a level above him due to the sole reason of having two NBA Championships under his belt.
At the end of the day, there is no shame in riding the bus a little bit if it gets you a ring. Even Chuck's co-star Shaquille O'Neal admitted that he rode the bus during his stint with the Miami Heat. The end result? Shaq won the fourth ring of his career.
More must-reads: