Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook earned his first NBA MVP award on Monday night, which, for the most part, did not include any subtle mentions of his former teammate, Kevin Durant.
Aside from Enes Kanter‘s jab via Twitter that Westbrook was “the real MVP,” it was a smooth night full on congratulations for the Thunder 28-year-old. Things got more interesting once Durant sent his congratulations to several of the NBA Award winners on the Community section of his YouTube page:
“I called out this year's MVP years ago so you gotta respect my knowledge for the game lol. Huge congrats to Russell Westbrook on MVP. That boy went out there and was a created player on (NBA) 2K all year, f–kin balled out. Gotta respect it!”
Nearly a year removed from Durant's move to the Golden State Warriors, there appears to be progress made in rekindling their friendship. Keep in mind, former Thunder center Kendrick Perkins had acknowledged in May that the two are on talking terms now.
There still may be some level of disappointment from Westbrook, but the fact that Durant publicly congratulated his former teammate speaks volumes for the amount of respect KD has for Russ as a player.
Westbrook did put together a historic campaign, joining Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson as the only players in league history to average a triple-double for an entire season. He led the league with 31.6 points, second with 10.4 assists, and 10.7 rebounds per game. He also broke Robertson's NBA single-season record with 42 triple-doubles in the regular season.
All in all, this could be another big step forward in helping bring these two superstars back together off the court.
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