KD Rescinds Statement Regarding Westbrook's Return

Kevin Durant backtracked on Servant nickname and certainty on RW's status, then said "Let's act like I never did that (Grantland) interview"

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 19, 2014

Wow. Well, before we pass judgement on KD for making false statements, it's important to understand two things:

• He was extremely tired heading to All-Star Weekend. I attempted to capture some of that in a previous post. He had to do tons of media interviews and publicity stuff, not 24 hours after he herded his team to victory against the Lakers half a country away. From the way it sounded, he may have misspoke. After all, Bill never bothered to re-question him on the issue once he gave his initial response.
• The "servant" nickname likely had deeper meaning for Kevin Durant. J.A. Sherman does a wonderful job describing it in an article here. But in a nutshell, his nickname was met with some serious backlash, presumably due to its other connotations. Given how PR-savvy Durant has been in the past, I'd just say that it's likely he's trying to find a better way to accurately convey his beliefs. But, for the record, I really have no idea.

Anyway, the Heat game is tomorrow and Russell Westbrook's return has hidden back behind the cloud of mystery. The saga continues....