As Kevin Durant was playing in the NBA All-Star Game for the 16th time in his illustrious career on Sunday evening, allegations were circling online that the Houston Rockets star was behind a “burner” account trashing his current and former teammates in group messages on Twitter. It’s important to note that nothing has been confirmed on if it’s really Durant behind the account, but the entire Internet sure seems to think it’s him at the moment.
Durant has been a Twitter power user for years, and he’s already had at least two other burner scandals over the last decade. How did this one get started? Durant responded to a fan who was criticizing the NBA for redesigning its trophies. The fan then responded asking Durant why he invests in drone technology that’s allegedly been used to do government surveillance. Another fan jumped in and alleged that he was in a group chat with Durant on a burner account, which he was using to criticize teammates and make out-of-line comments.
Durant’s burner account was allegedly @gethigher77, which is currently locked.
From there, more messages allegedly from Durant continued to leak. It’s hard to verify where these were first leaked, and if they’re authentic.
Here’s another thread:
These screenshots show the account allegedly operated by Durant saying his All-Star teammate Alperen Sengun doesn’t shoot or defender, that Devin Booker got all the credit when the Suns won but he took all the blame when they lost, that he was questioned for holding Steph Curry accountable in film sessions, and calling Russell Westbrook a “triple-double cocaine bear.”
The header of Durant’s alleged burner account was the same as a photo he tweeted in 2021:
Durant is believed to operate this account because, a) people in his groupchats allegedly knew it was him, b) it sounds like his tweeting voice, and c) we already know he’s addicted to Twitter. It’s certainly possible that at least some of these images are doctored. It’s hard to verify anything on Elon’s internet.
There were several videos of Durant on his phone circulating from the arena. This is what he looked like when he was announced as an All-Star:
It’s all pretty circumstantial right now, but the court of public opinion already seems to have made its ruling.
Here’s some commentary on the Durant allegations from around the internet:
Do you think Durant is behind the account?
I really hope not, but it seems possible. Durant will likely be asked about this when the season resumes on Thursday, but we may never get confirmation. We’ll keep this story updated as it develops.
Read the full article here