Jul 25, 2024; Paris, France; USA basketball player Kevin Durant talks to the media during a press conference. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
By Reice Shipley on

Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant has developed a reputation over the years for refusing to let any bit of criticism hurled his way stand without an argument on social media. And on Sunday, this exact scenario happened when a fan seemingly got under his skin over Durant’s partnership with the popular sportsbook FanDuel.

On Saturday, Durant posted his picks for the Week 11 slate of NFL games, a promotional post for FanDuel Sportsbook.

Plenty of players have these kinds of partnerships with sportsbooks. Especially when it comes to picks in an entirely different league than they play in. And this isn’t a particularly new thing for Durant, who announced the partnership during an appearance on the Up & Adams Show on FanDuel TV in early September.

However, it is particularly interesting to see this partnership for Durant. Specifically because Durant has been adamantly against fans who send disrespectful messages to athletes like himself after they don’t help them win their respective bets.

In response to Durant’s promotional post, one fan called out the hypocrisy of Durant promoting FanDuel when he has shared his negative stance on gambling in the past.

“The dude who tells people to stop gambling and get a job promoting FanDuel,” a user by the name of @Therealbink1 wrote on X.

In classic Durant fashion, he would reply to this comment, again saying that bettors shouldn’t be “point fingers” when they lose and claiming he and “other service workers” don’t get as much gratitude as they should.

“No, I tell u to stop complaining about this life that you’ve committed to,” wrote Durant. “When u lose, there’s finger pointing. When u win, there’s gloating about how smart you are about seeing the future. No gratitude to the service workers like myself. I’m sick of it.”

The term service worker can be interpreted in a number of different ways. But typically, a service worker label is reserved for someone working in food service, cleaning service, or the protective service industry among many other far more common industries. Not someone like Durant, who has made just short of $400 million throughout his 17 years in the NBA.

Maybe Durant was being sarcastic with his service worker claim. But regardless, fans got a good laugh out of this claim as you may expect, with fans ironically posting photos of Durant wearing a hard hat as a “service worker”.

[Kevin Durant on X]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley