Durant calls out colleges
In the wake of a Yahoo Sports report further exposing the underbelly of college basketball, Warriors forward Kevin Durant made one thing clear: He thinks college players should be paid.
“You want these players to go out and play on the biggest stage, I mean, the Final Four is one of the biggest sporting events in the world in sports, and they don’t get a dime for it,” Durant said after practice Friday. “I don’t think it’s right. They go out there, and they slave for these programs, to go out there and win a championship to bring a good vibe to these programs.
“Most of these players, these fans go to the game to see these players. It’s just like the NBA. These fans want to see the best players. They’re not getting paid for it, and I can understand why that other stuff starts to happen.”
In a report published Friday, Yahoo Sports’ Pat Forde and Pete Thamel detailed documents obtained by the FBI that show an underground recruiting operation that could pose NCAA rules issues for at least 20 Division I basketball programs and more than 25 players. Texas, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Michigan State, among others, could potentially be disciplined for providing impermissible benefits and preferential treatment to players and families.
“I don’t really see (any solutions),” Durant said. “What are you going to do? You can’t control an agent. You can kind of keep them out of these programs, but it’s too deep now. They’ve been at this thing for a long time. It’s a huge business now.” Bell update: Warriors forward Jordan Bell has been ruled out of Saturday evening’s game against the Thunder, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said.
Bell, who was evaluated by team doctors Thursday, was seen participating in a 3-on-3 scrimmage after practice Friday. Kerr said he will probably wait until the Warriors’ upcoming road trip to play Bell: Monday at New York, Wednesday at Washington and Friday at Atlanta.
Bell has missed 13 games with a swollen left ankle. After participating in his first full-court scrimmage in more than a month Wednesday, he told reporters that he feels no lingering soreness and expects to return to games soon.