Kevin Durant & Russell Westbrook went through a lot of ups & downs during their eight years together in Oklahoma City and helped each other become the players they are today. Durant admitted earlier this month after signing with the Warriors that their friendship would probably “never be the same” but for the moment at least, it appears even talking is too much to handle. As you know, Westbrook signed a big extension to stay with the Thunder yesterday but KD wanted no parts of reaching out to his former running mate to congratulate him.

@IamJoeSports

“Nah, that’s a touchy deal. It’s easy for someone else to tell me what I should do.” Durant told reporters in Rio on Thursday. “But I’ll see when this is over and when everything dies down. At some point, we’ll sit down and talk. But I don’t know when.”

As a fan of both of these guys, this makes me sad. While it’s true that there is still likely some hurt feelings over Durant leaving and maybe not enough time has passed and he is currently focused on the Olympics but for things to be so “touchy” that he can’t even send a simple congratulations text really sucks.

Durant did say he was happy for Russell though in general.

“I’m happy to see any player in this league do whatever they want to do,” he said about Westbrook’s extension. “As long as [Westbrook] wasn’t pressured to do anything; it felt like he did everything he wanted to do and that’s how I feel about every player in this league. If it’s good for him, good for his family, good for the people in Oklahoma City that watch him play and love to have him on their team. […] I have nothing but positive energy and vibes for everybody. I don’t have no beef with anybody or no ill will on anybody. So if he did want he wanted to do, that’s great for him.”

KD & Russ were the dynamic duo and had a brotherhood of their own but this is a harsh reminder about the reality of the sport being a business first. Westbrook’s contract extension is of course a touchy subject for Durant, because his departure likely made it happen. But it is important to note that Durant is not closing the door on Westbrook forever as he does say that he will talk with his former teammate after everything “dies down.”