Kevin Durant’s recent comments about the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and the differences between USA Basketball and European Basketball have ignited a major debate. Durant had earlier claimed that the criticism against AAU was a veiled attack on the notion that “Black Americans” control the sport, and there was no actual reason for criticism apart from it originating from racist tendencies.

However, speaking to Stephen A. Smith, Jay Williams launched a passionate offense against Durant’s comments, claiming that they represented a racist, victimhood mentality, per a post on X by ClutchPoints.

“The first argument was about AAU Basketball, which is a completely different argument than the black American thing. I think you whenever you bring race into something like this, it hijacks the conversation and takes away from the initial point. It felt a little bit like a racist, victimhood mentality and it concerned me a tad because I think critiquing a development system is not critiquing a race. And we're talking about development systems for Americans,” he said, before bringing up a slew of legends who have also talked about the differences between the European approach, compared to USA’s approach.

Kobe Bryant, for example, had previously claimed that while in the USA, players are initially taught athleticism, European schools tend to prioritize basketball IQ and skill. Bryant had not concluded that the European method was right and was merely speaking out on the differences between the two schools.

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“The thing that really bothered me about the comment is that we have heard American players talking about it for the longest time. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, 2015 Kobe Bryant literally said European players are taught how to play the right way,” Williams said.

The argument is simple. Williams believes that the criticism, or the differences between the two schools actually exist, and the argument form former players has never been about proving that the European method works better. Instead, when Durant suggested that the criticism is merely a result of racist tendencies, he was stripping away the actual logic behind the argument.

“He never said European players are better…I felt like when KD goes on of these rants, it sounds a little bit reckless..Black history should never be minimized to a month, it should be American history,” Williams explained.

KD, undoubtedly a serial winner, may have indeed jumped the gun by bringing in a racism-related discourse to the argument, with Williams simply pointing out that the difference between the two schools of basketball are there for all to see.