Kevin Durant's reign as the NBA's most online superstar rolls into another year.
While he is one of the most talented scorers the game has ever seen, criticism still makes it across Durant's desk, be it from fans, media members or his peers. After winning his fourth Olympic gold medal with Team USA, Durant celebrated with a post on X (formerly Twitter) that read "ENTERTAINMENT & IQ."
The caption, which was presented with Team USA's celebratory photo, was not as random as it may initially seem. It was actually Durant's response to perceived criticism from German guard Dennis Schröder, who is gearing up for his 12th season in the NBA.
Naturally, Schröder responded once he caught wind of Durant's recent post. Now, the two are officially entrenched in a war of words. Here's what Schröder said to prompt Durant's social media post and what the Nets guard had to say in response to the superstar.
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Kevin Durant-Dennis Schroder beef, explained
During the Olympics, Schröder took a firm stance on the difference between European basketball and basketball in the NBA.
"European basketball is no entertainment," Schröder said. "It's straight IQ basketball, straight coaching and really, really high IQ guys who know how to play the game.
"I mean, Serbia, Greece, Spain, France, Germany. I mean, it's so many teams out there who know how to play, who are athletic and I think it's a lot of people from Europe in the NBA who make some noise. … Of course, the NBA is the best league in the world but Europeans are coming for sure."
During his statement, Schröder said he was attempting to be careful with his words as he was not trying to take away from the NBA. But in addition to being an 11-year NBA veteran, Schröder is a proud European and led Germany to a FIBA Basketball World Cup championship in 2023.
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Regardless of his intentions, Schröder's statement resulted in Durant's celebratory run on X, which included a direct mention of Schröder's words and a quoted post of Team USA's members during their respective time playing AAU basketball.
The posts were not-so-subtle responses to Schröder and the detractors of the youth basketball pipeline in the United States.
Days after Durant's jab on X, Schröder responded, doubling down that he did not mean disrespect by his comments before saying Durant was "being weak" in his decision to post what he did.
"They won and Kevin Durant tweets 'High IQ and Entertainment,'" Schröder said. "For me, that's just being weak. Like, you're that type of star and you have to say something to a person like me who didn't even mean it to be negative. It was just what I've seen from both sides.
"I didn't appreciate it. I don't care at the end of the day, but that tweet he posted was because of me. I never meant anything negative, I respect all of those guys, but to say that tells me how weak he is as a person.
"It is what it is, not everybody is strong, not everybody is in a good place."
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While Schröder's response isn't exactly consistent with him not caring at the end of the day, he did make it clear from the beginning that his statement was not to be taken negatively. Knowing Durant, however, he will not take kindly to being called weak.
With that in mind, you may want to mark your calendars for Nov. 27, which is when Schröder and the Nets are slated to visit Durant's Suns.