The Tribune

Sporting Mischief and Mayhem

By Inigo Naughty Zenicazelaya

OKAY, now that I’ve regained my composure from bouts of hysterical laughter, let me begin.

The source of my good laugh? Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors. Just have a look at this excerpt from The Mercury News in Oakland, California.

“Kevin Durant is joining the Warriors.

“Durant made his much-anticipated free agency announcement Monday, tweeting out an article written for The Players’ Tribune. In it, he declared he would be joining the Warriors before the site promptly crashed.

“The Warriors, in one of the biggest free agent acquisitions in NBA history, landed the former MVP, four-time scoring champion and seven-time All-Star. He joins a team that won a record-setting 73 games last season and fell one win shy of a second straight NBA championship.”

Durant will sign a two-year deal with the Warriors worth $54.3 million, with a player option in the second year, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein.

Obviously just looking at the money in the deal and now the Warriors roster, one can see the whole scenario is no joke!

Pulling a LeBron

And no, not because he pulled a LeBron either.

Okay, well maybe just a little bit. Just as I frowned on LeBron’s exodus to Miami and subsequent return to Cleveland, I frown on Durant’s departure as well.

Why? Durant’s departure, coupled with Kobe’s retirement signifies the death of an era in basketball. Gone are the days when a superstar plays his whole career with the same franchise, working tirelessly to bring the organisation a championship.

No more creative blockbuster trades to better a roster. It’s finished, finito, caput! Replaced by petulant superstars looking for major help to win after not being able to break through and win the big one on their own. Nowadays it’s far easier to ‘jump ship’ to other teams with a superstar or two in place and some salary cap space to chase a championship. Throw social media into the mix and it’s all over.

I think Durant’s move a la LeBron will be a more successful one than James’ own to the Heat because Durant didn’t promise exorbitant amounts of championships ... not one, not two, not three, not four like LeBron did!

I do, however, like the Warriors to be the next dynasty in basketball. Do you see that freakin’ roster? Scary!

My People ‘Dem

The real reason for my laughter is my Bahamian people and their lack of loyalty to their teams. It’s comical how fast some of you change your allegiance in a heartbeat in pursuit of being affiliated with a winning team or the champions in each sport.

Let’s take ‘Buddy Mania’ for example: thousands of Bahamians flocked to social media professing their love for ‘Buddy’ Hield and claiming to be representing for the Pelicans from here on out all on Facebook with Pelicans logos on their profile pictures.

Yesterday, as of 11.30am with Durant declaring his intent to sign with the Warriors, those same Pelican fans are now ... you guessed it ... Warrior fans?!

Ah my people, what I’m really looking forward to are the explanations steeped in cow manure as to why they are jumping ship and rolling with the new look Warriors. That should make for some great debates on the Press Box (Sunday’s 10am-1pm) and possibly new material for Jokers Wild!

Lakers for life

In all honesty, I can’t even get distracted by news from another franchise, I’ve got enough to worry about in Lakerland. Like, Mosgov at $64m and Deng at $72m?!

Maybe it’s via a trade of DeMarcus Cousins for DeAngelo Russell and pieces? I’ve been hearing this rumour way too long so I will believe it when I see it.

Or how about the hottest story on the wire - Russell Westbrook to the Lakers?

Speaking of which, the latest update just hit the wire. See you next week, in my Laker jersey. Hopefully you ‘jumpers’ will figure out which one of your teams jerseys to wear!

• Naughty presents ‘Mischief and Mayhem in da AM’ from 6am to 10am, Monday to Friday and ‘The Press Box’ sports talk show on Sunday from 10am to 1pm, on KISS FM 96.1. Comments and questions to naughty@tribunemedia.net