It should come as no surprise that the most online NBA superstar responded to criticism from a prominent former NBA superstar about his place among the all-time greats. Kevin Durant responded to Scottie Pippen's critiques about how that the Nets forward had yet to pass LeBron James as a superstar.
More specifically, Pippen said LeBron would have found a way to beat the Bucks in a way the Nets were unable to. It's worth noting that the Brooklyn-Milwaukee series went to Game 7 and Brooklyn was missing Kyrie Irving, and had an injured James Harden on the court beyond Durant in terms of stars. But that was not enough for Pippen -- though he did acknowledge it -- but used the loss against Durant.
The Nets star, understandably, did not take too kindly to the comments.
Didn’t the great Scottie pippen refuse to go in the game for the last second shot because he was in his feelings his coach drew up the play for a better shooter??
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) June 24, 2021
This guy Scott also wanted to enjoy his summer so he chose to rehab during the season lol yo @ScottiePippen THEY FOLLOWED PHIL, NOT YOU!!!
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) June 24, 2021
For the first of the two replies, Durant is referencing Game 3 in the 1994 postseason series between the Bulls and the Knicks. Pippen famously sat out for the last play of the game because it wasn't drawn up for him. Even with that being the case, Toni Kukoc hit the game-winner and kept the series alive for Chicago. In other words, Pippen actively went away from his teammates when they needed him to beat an opponent.
A person could see this in one of two ways. The first being that Pippen is a hypocrite for his comments on Durant's stardom. The second could be that if there's anyone who know about not properly using his teammates to win, it's Pippen, so he's the right person to comment on this.
