After Russell Westbrook’s latest triple-double, Kevin Durant’s brother criticized him on Twitter for “chasing” triple-doubles, as the Oklahoman noted. 

And then, for some reason, this:

Russell Westbrook’s wife happened to catch those comments, and, well, she’s not impressed. 

So that’s awkward.

Look, Durant’s brother gets to have opinions. That’s just free speech. He’s not beholden to protect or stand up for Westbrook anymore, the same way the Thunder aren’t beholden to stand up for Durant. And it’s totally understandable that Mrs. Westbrook elected to defend her husband. Social media can be toxic for just these kinds of scenarios, and that’s before fans start piling into the mentions. 

But if there’s any talk about how the Westbrook-Durant feud is fake, it’s things like this that give it credence. There’s bad blood there. And that’s OK, and it’s not a big deal, and they made it through the All-Star Game fine together, even connecting on an alley-oop. But interactions like this one kind of show there’s still some lingering tension between the two sides. Durant’s brother can say whatever he wants, but why choose to? Mrs. Westbrook is free to respond, but why bother? 

The answer lies in a complicated dynamic that played out last summer on the world’s stage, and continues to reverberate eight months later.