Ben DuBose

And I suspect that at times my coworkers vent about me to people in their inner circle and we all move on and we work together productively.

What's different in this case is

For starters, it got out.

And secondly, you can question, you know, whether KD should be that open with people on the internet that he doesn't know that well.

I mean, yeah, that's fair.

That goes back to the original burner scandal and just, you know, caring a bit too much about perception on the internet and some of these battles, if you will.

I mean, yeah, you can certainly make those arguments, but in terms of what it means for the team, I don't think...

The fact that Kevin Durant has had these thoughts means, oh, you can say that before this happened, the Rockets had terrible chemistry, and this just proves that something was wrong in the locker room.

No, it doesn't work that way.

I bet other teammates on the Rockets have had thoughts about Kevin Durant or other players on the team.

This is normal.

This is a part of high stress jobs and the NBA is as high stress as it gets with the stakes that are involved and the competitive juices that get flowing when you're playing at the highest possible level.

So I do not think you can take this and backfill and say, oh, this proves the Rockets have a fractured locker room and that something is wrong.

No, this stuff happens with, I think, most professionals.

It doesn't mean that the relationships are dysfunctional.

Now, going forward, it could be because most people vent to, you know, people in their inner circle and they, you know, it's tight enough that it's not going to get out.

And so the fact that now, if it's true, it's out...

You know, could that be different than just, you know, vaguely assuming that, oh, you know, Jabari, for example, had that terrible shooting slump in early January.

I'm sure he already knew that some of his teammates behind closed doors were, you know, whispering mean things to their family members or friends, you know, out of frustration, you know, just venting and then they all move on the next day.

Like, I'm sure he already knew that, but could it be different this time that it's so public?