Skip Bayless is Right; Kevin Durant is Checked Out

Kevin Durant, 2-Time NBA Champion, 2014 MVP, and All-time great player, has decided to get in another Twitter War with Skip Bayless. We all know who Skip Bayless is; perhaps the most controversial person in American Sports Media, with opinions that constantly go against the grain, especially when it comes to Lebron James. In this world, giving an opinion that deviates from the one of the masses is seen as a crime, and thus, Skip is extremely disliked within the NBA and NFL world, by players, coaches, owners, other media members, and of course, fans. Skip and KD have a long history of drama that is more than a decade old. Despite being a Kevin Durant fan for most of the time he’s been playing, Bayless has found himself in constant battles on social media with him. We all remember the 2021 beef where KD responded to praise from Bayless, seemingly in defense of LeBron, who was slighted in the tweet. The tweet caused quite a stir, and Skip had to respond on air. Now, they have entered a new feud, this time after Skip Bayless actually criticized Durant.

On his podcast, titled “The Skip Bayless Show”, Skip released a video titled Kevin Durant is Nearing His End. In the video, Skip praises Durant’s past achievements with the Thunder and Warriors and argues that at this point in his career, he is mentally checked out of the grind of basketball. “The more I watch him at age 36, the more he [KD] looks mentally semi-retired to me." Certainly, it is a strong criticism of one of the biggest names in basketball and sports. Skip further ripped his effort on defense, his lack of leadership, and his general negative demeanor on the basketball court. The Phoenix Suns find themselves in a precarious position, sitting at 11th place in the West, despite having Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. Whether they will make the playoffs or even make the play-in is up in the air, and it is shocking when looking at the big names on the roster and the amount of money these guys are getting paid.

Kevin Durant took it X to fire back on Skip Bayless, in a move that made him look even worse. Quoting a clip of Skip’s video, saying “Fuck it, We’re both washed, it was a a great run @RealSkipBayless”, and further going back and forth with users who replied to his posts. To be honest, this move from KD just serves to validate a lot of the points Skip laid out. The Suns literally played a game today, beating the depleted Dallas Mavericks rather comfortably, 125-116. Durant himself had a decent game, scoring 21 pts on 53% FG and getting 8 assists. Concerningly, he only took 15 shots, despite playing 38 minutes. Regardless, instead of heading home after the win and relaxing, or whatever you would expect one of the best players in the league to do, Durant decided to take to X to fire back at Skip Bayless, not exactly a strong argument against a guy who just claimed that you are checked out of basketball. Star athletes are people, and they get emotional like the rest of us, of course; however, someone of Durant’s caliber should know not to respond to the media, especially only a few hours after playing a game. And the response itself is pretty embarrassing. Sarcastically saying that he and Skip are both washed is not clever, and some people would be forgiven for believing that he is being serious based on the Suns' abysmal performance this year.

The hard truth is that Skip Bayless has a very valid point. Durant might be averaging 27 and 6 on fantastic shooting splits, but he doesn’t look like he’s hungry to achieve anything this season. His once-solid defense has completely eroded. He goes through random games like the one today, where he doesn’t take nearly enough shots. His body language and demeanor have been an absolute disaster at certain times, as well. Kevin Durant has always been a pretty mellow, low-key kind of guy who doesn’t show much emotion on the basketball court, and there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, I believe it is a positive compared to the whiny antics of a Luka Dončić, for example. However, at too many points of this season, KD has had his head down and appeared completely deflated on the court, and as the best player on your team, such behavior is unacceptable. Sports fans will often fight the tide on this and argue that compiling about body language is just something made up to criticize players, and it doesn’t affect the game. This is nonsense. Emotion plays a huge role in sports and the idea of momentum within a game. When a team goes on a crazy run, scoring, putting in effort on defense, celebrating, and having positive body language, it is infectious. Basketball, in many cases, is a game of runs, and emotions are a huge aspect of that. This process works in reverse. Looking dejected, playing lazy, and other negative things will absolutely bring your team down, especially when exuded from the best player on the team. Also, let’s not forget about that viral clip from last week with KD getting into without coach Mike Budenholzer in a close loss against the Clippers. Such behavior is horrible for the team and an absolute gift to Skip Bayless and the rest of the media.

What part of what Skip said was that bad? It comes from a place of reverence for what Kevin Durant used to be, with the admission that even at age 36, he can still play at a Championship-winning level. The only criticism is that mentally, Kevin isn’t fully there and can be playing better. For some reason, asking for more from a player you admire has gotten the player in question and NBA fans mad. It’s as if Durant and his apologists want us to believe that Skip is a hater, despite Skip backing him at almost every point of his career, to even before, where Skip said that Durant should be drafted first over Greg Oden in 2007. This opinion was ridiculed at the time and has been proven to be one of the best controversial takes of Skip’s career. And just as bold as ever, Skip was right to call out Durant in this instance. He is disengaged from the Phoenix Suns and the idea of winning championships as an elite-level basketball player. He has gotten too comfortable.

What Kevin Durant needs to do is show more aggression on the basketball court, on both defense and offense. It has become clear that Booker simply does not have what it takes to be the best player on the team. KD needs to take ownership, and Booker should be the 2nd Option. There is no reason why Durant should be taking fewer shots than Booker in almost any game. He also needs to put more effort into defense, especially since his team isn’t exactly filled with great defenders. He needs to lead by example. There is no doubt that even at his advanced age, he still possesses the talent to be “The Guy” on a championship-caliber team. That’s the Kevin Durant we want to see, not this guy listlessly running around, losing two games in a row at home to the Trail Blazers.