Certain opinions have a way of rubbing some people the wrong way, and one particular opinion from ESPN host Cari Champion had Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers in complete disbelief.
Lillard has been busy dominating the league since being snubbed of an All-Star berth, averaging 29.6 points and 8.4 assists in the month of February. Monday was an off day, though, so the point guard took a minute to watch a debate on ESPN about which five current players are the most worthy of building a team around.
Neither of the debaters had Kevin Durant in the Top 5 and stated their reasons when confronted by Chris Broussard as the voice of reason. David Lloyd’s logic was that Durant had foot issues, which is reasonable enough. The other stated by Champion, however, was curious at best.
“Kevin Durant doesn’t have as much heart. He doesn’t have heart. Kevin Durant doesn’t have a lot of heart. He just doesn’t”
Those were the words stated to explain the reason behind Durant not being worthy of being in the top five players in the league to build around. Where that logic came from can only be explained by Champion (which she didn’t do on the show), but it was enough for Lillard to put her on blast:
This woman on ESPN didn’t put KD on top 5 players to build around because “he doesn’t have heart” lmao … Where do they find these ppl smh
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 22, 2016
To be clear, Lillard stated that the issue wasn’t what gender the idea was coming from:
There’s plenty women that know sports very well but my issue is with the comment not the gender https://t.co/VTAyk59BH6
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 22, 2016
I’d say “this guy on ESPN” https://t.co/EabOmHVThB
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 22, 2016
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 22, 2016
Aside from the fact that he’s arguably one of the best players in the NBA, Durant is actually one of the more emotional players in the league as well. It would be nice to hear what Champion’s logic was for saying what she did because it’s a pretty irresponsible accusation to make on live television without a sound explanation.
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.