Kevin Durant gets last laugh with troll of James Harden in All-Star Draft

Thursday, Feb. 10 was a day full of its fair share of entertainment. The Brooklyn Nets and Sixers finally executed a James Harden-Ben Simmons trade and five hours later, Kevin Durant and LeBron James chose their teams for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.

Durant had been quiet about the Harden trade drama but on Thursday morning, he liked a post on Instagram about how Harden wanted a trade but was too afraid to formally request one.

Before the draft began, the NBA on TNT crew asked Durant about the trade that happened a few hours earlier. Part of his response was, “I’m excited. I think that everybody got what they wanted.”

Not too long after that, KD and James were down to the final two players remaining in the draft – Rudy Gobert and Harden. It was Durant’s turn to pick and guess who he chose…

Kevin Durant leaves James Harden as last pick in All-Star Draft.

The timing of Thursday’s events couldn’t have lined up any better. Between KD and James, along with the TNT crew, the draft was pure comedy.

With a straight face, Durant said, “I’m gonna need some size and some defense in the interior, especially with Giannis and LeBron James playing such great basketball this year. I need somebody to offset that so I’m going to go with Rudy Gobert.”

Meanwhile, James had to hold his clipboard over his face so that he could try to hide the fact that he was laughing but he couldn’t hold it in.

Charles Barkley told Durant, “Hey when somebody wants out, you let them go. Don’t let them come back. I’m with you KD.”

James decided to add fuel to the fire and asked if Harden was healthy since he’s been out with left hamstring tightness. Barkley responded and said that since Harden got traded, “he’s healthy now.”

When Ernie Johnson mentioned that Harden had been out for three games with “a hammy”, Durant finally cracked a smile.

How in the world was KD able to hold in his laughter for that long?

From Durant choosing Harden’s new teammate Joel Embiid with his first pick and leaving Harden for last, the draft exceeded expectations but it was only the beginning of what’s to come.

The All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 20 and a couple weeks after that on Mar. 10, Brooklyn will travel to Philadelphia to face Harden for the first time since the trade.

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