Earlier this week, a report came out stating that Kevin Durant had told Russell Westbrook that he was staying with the Oklahoma City Thunder before ultimately choosing to sign with the Golden State Warriors.

Here's the quote from ESPN's Royce Young on the TrueHoop Podcast:

Three weeks ago, Kevin Durant’s sitting there at dinner, telling him “Hey, I’m coming back, man. Don’t worry about it.” And now, Russell Westbrook has been kind of thrown into this in having to decide his future a summer earlier than expected.

These comments caused a stir among the NBA community, but apparently they weren't entirely accurate. Young is a great reporter who wouldn't intentionally bend the truth, but in this case he misspoke, and people took his words and ran with them.

Young attempted to clarify what he'd said a day later:

These were not direct quotes meant to be attributed to Durant. It was an attempt to characterize what Westbrook thought his situation was going to be in Oklahoma City and how Durant’s leaving impacts his thinking about his future.

Despite Young's clarification, many fans only saw the initial reports and still believed that KD had told Russ he was re-signing with OKC.

Hoping to put the issue to bed for good, Durant spoke with Shams Charania of The Vertical on Thursday to refute Young's comments and the ensuing reports that came from them:

“It’s false,” Durant told The Vertical on Thursday. “I didn’t say that – words about me telling Russell or Nick that I would stay or leave never came out of my mouth. We met as teammates, but no promises came out of it. In this day and age, I can’t control anything people claim out there. Someone can go out and say something random right now, and people will believe it.

“I never told Russell or Nick [Collison], ‘All right, guys, I’m coming back to the Thunder’ – and then a week later, I decide not to. Never happened. I don’t operate like that. I heard people say that story, but it’s not the truth.”

…

“There were never promises given in a meeting before July,” he told The Vertical. “I went through the process.”

I guess that settles that.

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