Durant is sorry for vulgar messages to actor; fined by NBA
Kevin Durant has apologized for the language he used in direct messages to actor Michael Rapaport — which Rappaport exposed on Instagram on Tuesday and the NBA fined him for on Friday. “I’m sorry that people seen that language I used,” Durant said in a Zoom conference call with reporters on Thursday. “That’s not really what I want people to see and hear from me, but hopefully I can move past it and get back out there on the floor.”
Durant ripped Rapaport with an expletive-laden series of messages on Instagram, including a challenge to fight him outside of the Catch Steak location on the corner of 17th Street and 9th Avenue. The exchange occurred after Rapaport wrote on Twitter that Durant “seemed deeply in his feelings” after an interview with the NBA on TNT anchors.
The league fined Durant $50K for his use of “offensive” and “derogatory” language on social media, Byron Spruell, the NBA President of
League Operations announced Friday.
Durant called Rapaport a “b----,” referred to Charles Barkley as Rapaport’s baby daddy who needed to be better at his job and said he would spit in Rapaport’s face when he saw him next.
Some of his words have been categorized as misogynistic. Durant also mentioned Rapaport’s wife, which appeared to be the breaking point.
Rapaport screenshot the messages and posted them publicly on Instagram and Twitter, which revealed the back and forth between the two began on Dec. 23.
“I receive threats and disgusting messages DAILY, but never in my wildest dreams did I think @KDTrey5 would be among them,” Rappaport tweeted with the photos. “The (snake emoji) himself is now threatening me, bringing up my wife and wants to fight. This is supposed to be America’s sweetheart right? #ImDaRealMVP”
SNAP OUT OF IT
Steve Nash described the Nets as in a rut of sorts. They were rolling, but have not been finishing games with the polish you’d expect of a championship contender.
They blew out of that rut against the Hornets on Thursday, seizing momentum with a 45-18 lead in the second quarter.
This was without Durant (hamstring), James Harden (hamstring), Blake Griffin (rest) or Spencer Dinwiddie (ACL).
“Potentially. I mean, it was a good first step. You can’t pull yourself out of it without stringing together performances,” Nash said of getting out of the rut. “So that’s one. We were sharp. We came out with great intensity to start the game, which we have not been doing lately, and I thought overall, it was a pretty confident performance.”
DOMINANT DEFENSE
The Nets held the Hornets to just 11 points in the first quarter and 17 in the third. The performance came after they had to pull themselves back from an early 18-point deficit against the Rockets the night before.
“We should have more games like that, honestly, where we’re the dominant team in the first quarter instead of playing from behind,” Kyrie Irving said. “The flows of the game can change. Not every team is gonna come in and be held to a certain percentage in the first quarter like that by us, but we definitely made an imprint on that end tonight for sure.”
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
The Nets aren’t the only team facing a war of attrition. The Hornets were without star point guard LaMelo Ball, and at the top of the totem pole, the Lakers have been without LeBron James due to a high ankle sprain.
The Lakers further positioned themselves to compete for a championship by acquiring Mt. Vernon product Andre Drummond, but Drummond has already injured his big toe and is out an indefinite period of time.
“It’s gonna come down to who survives this long journey that we have going on. Who’s going to be the most healthy towards the latter end of this journey if you’re blessed enough to make it there,” Irving said. “We understand we have to make our way to the main stage. We don’t want to take any day for granted and we definitely don’t want to rush anybody back just to fill in a regular season void or anything like that. We just want everybody to be at the top of their game as healthy and going against the best of the best. That’s what we’re focused on here.”