Russell Westbrook took home his first NBA MVP award on Monday night, earning 69 first-place votes to beat out James Harden of the Houston Rockets.
Despite the complex history between himself and Westbrook, Kevin Durant took a moment to congratulate his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate on the award and an unbelievable season. Durant chose a strange method to deliver the message, however. He didn't post to Twitter ... or Facebook ... or SnapChat. He posted text -- not a video -- to his YouTube page. Did you even know you could do that?
Anyway, here's what Durant said:
Congrats on [Most Improved Player Giannis Antetokounmpo], this dude is a specimen that we've never seen before and it's guaranteed that he will be an MVP one day! In fact, I called out this years MVP years ago so you gotta respect my knowledge for the game lol. Huge congrats to Russell Westbrook on MVP, that boy went out there and was a created player on 2k all year, F----- balled out. Gotta respect it!
In addition to Antetokounmpo and Westbrook, Durant congratulated the rest of the night's big winners -- Sixth Man of the Year Eric Gordon, Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green and Coach of the Year Mike D'Antoni -- as well as Harden, another former teammate, for his improvement over the years:
Shoutout my boy James Harden. For 5 years now he's taken his game to the next level, he will be an MVP one day, he's an MVP now, he's made so many people proud. I know this first hand, recognize what he has done for the game!
Durant earned just two fifth-place MVP votes, largely due to the fact that he missed 19 games because of a knee injury. Before he got hurt, Durant was a leading MVP candidate as his normal scoring prowess (25.1 points per game) was bolstered by career-highs in rebounds (8.3), blocks (1.1) and field goal percentage (.537).
Durant has admitted that he and Westbrook haven't spoken much since he decided to sign with the Warriors last summer, but perhaps little gestures like this will start to repair their off-court relationship.
