On Friday, in the aftermath of Thursday night’s drama between Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Shaquille O’Neal on TNT, two of the best players in the NBA took the opportunity to share their thoughts on social media about current players taking criticism from former ones.
A post was made on Instagram and Twitter by Cuffs the Legend, who is a friend of LeBron James, which showed a picture of Michael Jordan talking with the late Kobe Bryant early in Bryant’s career. It was captioned “why are young players so sensitive when the OG Legends give them constructive criticism? When did the respect level change??”
Although neither directly addressed the Mitchell-O’Neal situation, 10-time NBA All-Star and 2014 MVP Kevin Durant commented on the Instagram post, as did James (16-time All-Star and four-time MVP) later.
“Them old heads need to go enjoy retirement,” Durant wrote. “These boys have coaches they work with everyday lol.”
Added James: “There’s a difference between constructive criticism and soft hating though. I’ve seen it both ways come my way, mostly the hate. You can hear it in their delivery.”