Kevin Durant's career has been highlighted and, in many ways, defined by three showdowns in the NBA Finals against his basketball contemporary, LeBron James. But he's also had some meaningful matchups with one of the league's most irritating defenders in Patrick Beverly. Back in 2013, during a first-round playoff match-up between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets, the former NBA All-Defensive First Team award recipient lunged toward Russell Westbrook and invertedly tore his meniscus. This essentially ended Kevin Durant's bid to win an NBA Championship that year. In 2019, when Durant was on the Golden State Warriors roster and Beverly was a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, their teams squared off in a classic matchup that saw the Clippers come back from 31 points in game two before losing the series to the eventual Western Conference Champs 4-2. Beverly proved to be a nuisance in defeat as he served as the primary defender against KD.

Now, five years later, the 'thorn in Kevin Durant's side' has once again reemerged to oppose his rival. But this time around, it isn't in during the heat of on-court competition. Kevin Durant's recent trade demand from his current team, the Brookyln Nets, has significantly altered the trade market and noticeably slowed down teams' eagerness to add free agents to their roster because they had been waiting for the dominoes to fall after he settled on a new team. As a result, employment opportunities for role players such as Beverly, who was recently traded to the Utah Jazz, have become harder to obtain; because of salary cap restrictions. Durant recently rescinded his trade demand after months of going back and forth with the Nets' front office.

Nevertheless, the off-season fiasco involving KD is not something that NBA owners will soon forget when it comes time to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the players. Beverly recently hopped on Twitter to further illustrate that impression, with a slight mention of Durant's name. KD, of course, responded, predictably so.

"'Ya'll can sit and don’t say nothing but that ain’t cool," Beverly Tweeted. "It’s dudes with families out here who haven’t got a job because of this KD sh*t. And to be on and off ain’t cool. Blessing Gang."

KD didn't waste any time responding as his short but effective rebuttal came within minutes "BLAMEKD," he wrote.

To be fair to Durant, Beverly did write the letters "KD" in the first Tweet, but when Durant responded on social media, the 34-year-old guard for the Utah Jazz appeared to indicate that his words were being taken out of context. So, he responded to KD's response.

"Damn gang who said I was talking about u. I’m speaking of how it was done. Both sides need keep that private. But noted."

Scroll up to view the recent exchange between Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverly on Twitter.

Source: Sports.yahoo.com