Kevin Durant talks Dwyane Wade, Jeremy Lamb on Chris Mannix Show

Kevin Durant, being all 'not nice' this past off-season, dunking on people and dissing Dwyane Wade and whatnot, dropped by the Chris Mannix Show to expound a bit on the whole dust-up. Since the all-consuming media and sports fans love a good controversy, Mannix asked Durant to clarify his comments. Naturally, KD deferred but refused to back down. Rob Mahoney at Sports Illustrated has the transcription.

Mannix asked Durant if he was surprised at how the thing blew up. Kevin gives a great answer, but really, should we have been surprised?

Durant: To be honest, I forgot all about it, I forgot that I said that until I checked on Twitter. A lot of Heat fans tweeted me and said not so nice things, which was expected. But I wasn't trying to disrespect D-Wade in any type of way or discredit anything he's done. He's a champion, their team is a champion. I can't say anything about their team. I can't. They beat us in the Finals and they won back-to-back. I can't say anything about their team. Basically what I was saying was that D-Wade passed the torch onto guys like James Harden, just to name one. I think that was just my opinion. I respect D-Wade, and I'm sure everybody's saying that he's going to use that as motivation, but he's always been a motivated player, and it's not going to change what I bring to the table. And I'm gonna stand by everything I say. No matter if I'm winning or losing, I'm going to say the same thing.

Mannix also asked Durant what he thought of Wade's now-infamous Instagram response.

I'm going to say that Durant gives a subtle dig at Wade's penchant for enjoying the human aesthetic here, but you be the judge (emphasis mine):

The handwriting was immaculate. D-Wade, he's a high-level player. I didn't really think too much about it. It is what it is. Some people get motivated different ways, and that's how he chose to do it, and I respect him. There's no disrespect to him or the organization, it's just how I felt at the time when they were asking the question. Like I said, I'm going to stand behind it. I'm not going to let anybody change my stance on anything. Like I said, I respect what they've done as a team, what he's done as a player. But I was just talking about today as of right now, who I would take.

I look at it this way - If you're a GM of a team today and you have the chance to take today's Dwyane Wade or today's James Harden, which one would you take? It wouldn't be unanimous, but are we seriously arguing that most teams would take Wade over arguably the best offensive 2-guard in the league right now who is almost a decade younger and a whole lot more durable?

Lastly, Durant gives his vote of confidence in his scouting report on the Thunder's giant question mark, Jeremy Lamb:

Smooth operator. He can shoot it really, really well. Athletic, can handle the ball, can play pick-and-roll, he can do just about everything, man. He can come off screens and shoot. He’s really good for our program. I’m excited for him, and he’s been working his tail off this summer. I know he’s going to come out and be ready to play.