The morning after his Nets were swept out of the Nets by the Celtics, Kevin Durant took to Instagram to throw shade at Charles Barkley.
Perhaps it was surprising for some to see Durant take a shot at the TNT analyst right after his team was eliminated from postseason contention, but the Brooklyn superstar is one of the most logged-on athletes we have ever seen.
Durant is often criticized for playing on a superteam trio of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Then, this season, the Nets were preseason title favorites because KD was on a superteam trio alongside Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
However, the 2014 NBA MVP wanted to set the record straight: He didn’t start the trend of great players joining great players. Barkley even played alongside Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon.
KD’s IG story throwing shade at Charles Barkley 👀 pic.twitter.com/BDPNU88cGs
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 26, 2022
Durant was presumably replying to something Barkley said while on-air earlier this week. Barkley was asked about Durant’s greatness, and he was quick to diminish the accomplishments of the two-time NBA champion.
Barkley called Durant a “bus rider” and that unless you’re “driving” the bus, winning a championship means nothing.
Those are much easier words said by someone who has never won a title, though, as four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal quickly added that Durant won two titles in a row.
Chuck, on Sunday: "All these bus riders, they don't mean nothing to me. If you ain't driving the bus, don't walk around talking about you a champion."
(via @NBAonTNT)pic.twitter.com/wZe08FnWlv
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 26, 2022
Barkley also recently said Durant wasn’t the best player on the Warriors, even comparing his NBA Finals MVP honors to when Andre Iguodala received the same nods.
So it makes sense that Durant took issue with Barkley’s comments.
Durant’s response was particularly interesting because Barkley’s 1998-99 Rockets were also eliminated in the first round of the playoffs (ironically, by Shaq’s Lakers).
Barkley’s Rockets were not exactly in their prime. That season marked Barkley’s second-to-last in the league, and he was 35 years old. According to the advanced metric win shares, it was also the second-worst season of his career.
Olajuwon was 36 years old, and Pippen was 33. So, unfortunately for KD, this wasn’t exactly a one-to-one analogy.
