An homeage to his deadly and nearly indefensible jump shot, "Easy Money Sniper" is one of Kevin Durant's many nicknames.
ESPY AWARDS 2017: Winners and best moments
However, during Wednesday night's 25th annual ESPY awards, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, who left the Thunder to join the Warriors this past offseason after they'd already won a title in 2014-15 and a record-73 regular-season games the year after, was the victim of the most memorable roast of host Peyton Manning's opening monolog...or so it seemed.
In congratulating the U.S. Women's National Gymnastics team on its success last summer in the Olympic games in Rio, Manning got off this one-liner.
"Our gymnastics team was so dominant that Kevin Durant told me he wants to play for them next year."
The zinger coupled with the unrelenting stone face response from Durant, set social media ablaze, spawning meme after meme. However, less than 24 hours afterward it seems Durant was just playing his part in letting the world have a lot of fun at his expense, reports ESPN's Chris Haynes.
For those interested, I'm told Kevin Durant was in on the Peyton Manning gymanistic team roast at #ESPYS2017. KD played his part well.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 13, 2017
If this is true, Durant's mother, who was seated next to him and former teammate Russell Westbrook also deserve props for adding to the believability of the moment.