Kevin Durant Fires Back at Scottie Pippen's Criticism After Nets' Second-Round Exit

The Hall of Famer was critical of Kevin Durant's playoff performance after the Nets were bounced in the second round by the Bucks.

Kevin Durant is a player of whom many superlatives can be applied: a singular basketball talent, one of the best and most accomplished players in NBA history, and perhaps the most skilled big man the game has ever seen.

He's also in the running for the "most online" player in the league today. Durant's foe in his latest Twitter feud? Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen.

Pippen drew Durant's ire after the former made comments in a profile with GQ's Tyler R. Tynes in which the former Bull compared Durant unfavorably to LeBron James after Durant's Nets lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Bucks. Durant spent most of the series playing without an injured Kyrie Irving and alongside a hobbled James Harden.

"When you’re leading the troops, you gotta know how to lead and win," Pippen said. "And KD, as great as his offense was, it turned out to be his worst enemy because he didn’t know how to play team basketball when it came down to it. He kept trying to go punch for punch. ... LeBron would’ve been better in that kind of situation because he would’ve used his team to pick them apart."

For the series, Durant averaged 35.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists on 49.7% shooting from the field.

Durant was quick to fire back at Pippen Thursday, pointing out Pippen's past failings on the court and, in Durant's view, selfish behavior when rehabbing an injury while with Chicago.

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

In the GQ piece, Pippen was asked what happened when he subbed himself out of a 1994 playoff game in the final possession after the Bulls drew up a play for Toni Kukoč to take the last shot.

"It was my first year playing without Michael Jordan, why wouldn’t I be taking that last shot? I been through all the ups and downs, the battles with the Pistons and now you gonna insult me and tell me to take it out? I thought it was a pretty low blow," Pippen said. "I felt like it was an opportunity to give [Kukoč] a rise. It was a racial move to give him a rise. After all I’ve been through with this organization, now you're gonna tell me to take the ball out and throw it to Toni Kukoč? You’re insulting me. That’s how I felt."