Miami Heat forward Kevin Love fired back at analyst Skip Bayless for his comments about Kevin Durant.
Bayless recently shared a video on social media claiming that Durant looks “mentally semi-retired” at this stage in his career.
Love didn’t appear to agree with Bayless’ take, claiming that Bayless was instigating things because it is “profitable.”
It’s nice to see that Love has Durant’s back, even though the two players have never been on the same team together in the NBA.
In fact, Durant and Love matched up against each other in the NBA Finals during Durant’s time with the Golden State Warriors and Love’s time with the Cleveland Cavaliers. While Durant’s Warriors got the best of the Cavs in both of those meetings, it appears that Love has respect for the former league MVP.
This season, Durant and the Phoenix Suns have struggled when it comes to winning games. Phoenix is just the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference and is 1.5 games back of the No. 10-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
The Suns could still make the play-in tournament in the Western Conference, especially since Kyrie Irving is out for the season for Dallas with a torn ACL.
Durant has played well in the 2024-25 season, and he earned yet another nod to the All-Star Game in the process. The two-time NBA Finals MVP is averaging 26.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from 3.
While Bayless may think that Durant is nearing the end – at least from a mental perspective – the Suns star hasn’t really shown any signs of slowing down from a production standpoint. He’s shooting a better percentage from the field than he did last season, and he’s averaging just 0.3 fewer points per game despite taking 0.7 fewer shots per game for Phoenix this season.
Hopefully, both Durant and Love will get a chance to compete for a playoff spot this season. The Heat are currently in the play-in tournament mix in the Eastern Conference.
Miami made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the East last season.
