Kevin Durant even went so far as to call his fans “clowns” in a fiery X (Twitter) tirade on Friday morning.
The online outburst from the Phoenix Suns star player came after Team USA narrowly defeated Serbia 95-91 in a thrilling semifinal at the Paris Olympics.
After Team USA secured a hard-fought victory on Saturday to secure a ticket for the gold medal, it was criticized by X user Josh Barnett.
“Learned a lot about American sports culture today. Lots of showing off for narrowly beating a country of 6.6 million at a sport they invented,” the user wrote.
“To act like Jokic fans are committing treason. We here would never do this to a small Pacifica nation in rugby league. We embrace the competition.”
Team USA star Kevin Durant called fans ‘clowns’ in bizarre and heated Twitter rant at 5 a.m.
Durant was not happy with the criticism and shared the post with his response.
“Let’s talk about the fan culture that has emerged recently,” Durant wrote. “A lot of huge egos who believe they are the reason for the advancement of a sport.
‘A LOT of idolatry, a lot of hate and division based on win and loss, a lot of disrespect for the work these incredible athletes put in, especially by people who don’t know what it takes to be good at anything other than talking… go do something and get out of the way.’
Users didn’t sit idly by when another responded: ‘This is exactly what he’s talking about, it’s been around since the NBA was founded.
“You think people weren’t idolizing MJ or Bird and being divisive back then? I hate to be that person, but it seems like it’s only now that it’s a problem because guys like Giannis and Jokic are getting the same treatment.”
Your browser does not support iframes.
Durant left after the Americans were criticized for their victory over Serbia
Durant dropped nine points as the Americans narrowly defeated Serbia 95-91 in the semifinals
Steph Curry led the team with 36 points, while LeBron James scored 16 himself
The second response triggered the Slim Reaper as he went into an all-caps rant to end his next statement. Durant, never one to shy away from an online confrontation, reposted the response with a harsh label for the fans.
“That’s what you do, you clowns,” he wrote. “Use players to push these tired agendas of yours. This is a brotherhood family, which you are not a part of. It’s a problem now because you clowns walk around on social media with your chests out like you mean it. YOU DON’T!!! YOUR OPINIONS DON’T MATTER.”
Before his angry tweets, Durant expressed his patriotism and pride in wearing the red, white and blue on the world stage.
“There’s a lot of nonsense happening in our country. But there’s a lot of great things happening,” Durant said after his nine-point performance on Thursday.
Steph Curry led the Americans with 36 points. Meanwhile, Joel Embiid and LeBron James dropped 19 and 16 points respectively, which ended Nikola Jokic and Co.
On Saturday, the US team will play host country France for the most marbles.