Kevin Durant Calls Out Scottie Pippen After Bulls Legend’s Remarks on KD, LeBron

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A new interview with Scottie Pippen in which he issued multiple criticisms of Kevin Durant’s game and place in NBA history generated quite a response from the Brooklyn Nets star. 

Speaking to Tyler R. Tynes of GQ, Pippen discussed why Durant hasn’t surpassed LeBron James on the NBA hierarchy:

“KD can score better than LeBron, probably always have been able to. But has he surpassed LeBron? Naw. He tried to beat the Milwaukee Bucks instead of utilizing his team. You see what I’m saying? LeBron James would’ve figured out how to beat them and he wouldn’t have been exhausted and he may not have taken the last shot. But LeBron ain’t KD, and KD ain’t LeBron. KD is a shooter, a scorer. But he doesn’t have what LeBron has.”

When word got back to Durant about those comments, the two-time NBA Finals MVP responded on Twitter by bringing up two of the most notorious moments from Pippen’s career:

Pippen infamously took himself out on the final possession of regulation for a Bulls playoff game against the New York Knicks on May 13, 1994, with the score tied at 102 because head coach Phil Jackson called a play for Toni Kukoc. 

Kukoc hit the game-winning shot to give the Bulls a 104-102 win, but Pippen was upset with the play not going through him. 

Criticizing anything about Durant’s performance in the Eastern Conference Semifinals is unusual for anyone to do. He averaged 35.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game with a 49.7 field-goal percentage. The 32-year-old became the first player in NBA history to score at least 45 points, grab 15 rebounds and dish out 10 assists in a playoff game (Game 5 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks). 

Durant put up those numbers without having Kyrie Irving available for the final three games against the Bucks due to a sprained ankle. James Harden returned to the lineup early in Game 5, despite battling a strained hamstring.