Kevin Durant bashed Charles Buckley on his Instagram story for calling him a “Bus Rider”, following the Brooklyn Nets’ exit from the NBA playoffs.
The Brooklyn Nets were touted by many as the team to beat in this season’s NBA championship. In fact, 71% of general managers of the NBA franchises voted that the Nets would win the championship this year. The Nets boast one of the strongest lineups in the division, and those predictions came as no surprise.
What did come as a surprise, though, was how easily they were swept 4-0 by the Boston Celtics. Since that defeat, a lot of the nets players have come under close scrutiny. But no one has faced more scrutiny than Kevin Durant. Durant, who is a multiple-time NBA champion, failed to lead his team to even a single win in the series. KD himself had a very underwhelming series by his standards.
One of his harshest critiques has been former player Charles Barkley. Barkley said on “Inside The NBA“,”
“You guys always talk about that championship stuff. I try to tell you all. All these bus riders. They don’t mean anything to me. If you ain’t driving the bus, don’t walk around talking about you a champion.” He said.
He further added, “If you riding the bus, I don’t want to hear it. All these guys walking around with championship rings, you are all bus riders. When you are the bus driver and you’ve got all that pressure where you have to play well or you’re gonna get the blame. That’s a different animal.”
KD had a cheeky response when he posted a photo of Barkley with his teammates during his time at the Houston Rockets with the caption, “Where would Chuck be without the big homies”. KD was referring to Barkley’s teammates Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Clyde Drexler.
KD’s IG story throwing shade at Charles Barkley 👀 pic.twitter.com/BDPNU88cGs
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 26, 2022
It will be fascinating to see how Barkley responds to this.