Kevin Durant makes James Harden the last pick on the playground... and it's awesome

I don’t know whose idea it was to hold the NBA All-Star Draft the same day as the trade deadline, but they deserve a massive raise.

In case you missed it, it only took 13 months for James Harden to figure out he doesn’t like Brooklyn either, so he forced his way out of the borough and down I-95 to Philly in exchange for Ben Simmons and others. My colleague Criss Partee covered the trade if you want specifics.

If you want glorious, awkward aftermath in the form of the NBA on TNT crew and LeBron James forcing Kevin Durant to pick between Rudy Gobert and Harden, enjoy this clip:

You know you’re funny when you can get Durant to laugh as Charles Barkley was trying to do throughout the reserve portion of the draft. He got Durant to grin a little bit right after Harden fell to James’ team, and then earned a full on smile and laugh after responding to James’ question about Harden’s health with, “Oh he got traded, he’s healthy now.”

When the audio delay catches up to the two team captains, James can’t hold it together, covering his face with a clipboard, and Durant, who was trying his absolute hardest to play it straight all draft, finally cracks.

Barkley jokes, “Hey LeBron, lemme tell you, right now he’s rubbing some Icy Hot on that thing. He’s playing the next game,” and Ernie Johnson, as he’s so adept at doing, moves the segment forward through his and the rest of the crew’s laughter.

Later, Durant added a not so subtle dig at his now two-time former teammate when asked about the versatility acquired in the deal.

“I feel like we got versatile players so we have to figure it out and figure out what works for us, but I’m just happy that we got guys who want to be part of this,” said Durant.

Who knows if Harden will respond — he probably won’t because he didn’t want to officially ask out of Brooklyn for fear of backlash, so clearly he’s still searching for his spine — but Durant’s seeming contempt for former co-workers now includes both Oklahoma City teammates Russell Westbrook and Harden.

The best thing about Durant is he doesn’t give a fuck anymore. At one point, Johnson asked him if he could give an update on his health, and Durant declined with a one word answer. (In case you’re wondering what that one word was, it was “No.”)

I guess once you get caught using a burner account, you might as well just be yourself. Whatever, I’m glad someone finally got him to laugh.

Please, content gods, manufacture more situations where Chuck can take on the awkward elephant in the room in Michael Scott-ian fashion.

To quote an uproarious LeBron in that clip, “I just can’t with y’all.”