Nets star Kevin Durant shot down speculative reporting by a longtime basketball journalist with some choices words on social media on Friday.
KD, fresh off a roasting of NBA legend Scottie Pippen on Thursday, was back at it in response to comments by ESPN basketball reporter Jackie MacMullan during her recent appearance on Bill Simmons' podcast.
MacMullan, who rose to prominence covering Boston sports, said on the podcast that she had gotten the sense from talking with Durant that his "genuine goal" was to win three titles in Brooklyn.
Durant, who is only under contract with the Nets for the next two seasons -- it's unclear whether MacMullan was suggesting Durant would sign an extension with Brooklyn -- apparently noticed a tweet touting her speculation, and fired off a rather forceful denial.
"Once again, I don’t even talk like this…" he said. "plus I don’t have a relationship with Jackie for us to have in depth conversations about my intentions as a basketball player. I get she plays an opinion based sport but she framed this like we are friends. We are not.."
Durant, as he alluded, has previously dismissed reports claiming to suggest players casually discuss how many titles they want to win. It's a narrative the 2014 MVP seems to see as trite and reductive.
In any event, MacMullan continues to have difficulty covering the Nets' notoriously outspoken stars. Earlier this year, she turned heads on Simmons' podcast when she relayed that she had once insisted during a debate with Kyrie Irving that NBA players are in essence the "property" of the teams they play for.
Irving, no stranger to controversy, was fined twice this season for refusing to speak to reporters, whom he dismissed as "pawns."
Durant meanwhile continues to maintain his active presence on Twitter, where he is known to mix it up with his critics -- including Pippen, and TNT analyst Charles Barkley.
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