NBA star Kevin Durant regrets losing cool with fans on Twitter

Look, NBA star Kevin Durant is apparently still learning how to be a straight shooter on social media.

For the past couple of days, the NBA All-Star has been ridiculed for calling out critics on Twitter who claim he took a shortcut to win a championship with the Golden State Warriors when he left his old team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.  

But instead of using a ghost Twitter account he allegedly uses to defend himself, Durant seemingly forgot to log out of his verified @KDTrey5 account Sunday and ranted to his 16.9 million followers. The two tweets, which ripped his old team and their coach Billy Donovan, are now deleted.

While Durant didn't directly admit to having a secret Twitter account during his appearance Tuesday at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference in San Francisco, he said Twitter is a great way to engage with his fans and apologized for taking the debate "a little too far." 

"I don't regret clapping back at anybody or talking to my fans," said Durant, adding he did apologize to Donovan and the Thunder. "That was childish, idiotic, all those type of words. I do regret doing that. I don't think I will stop engaging with my fans."

In addition to helping the Warriors win its second NBA title in three seasons, Durant has used his brief time in Silicon Valley along with his business partner/agent Rich Kleiman to invest in about 30 startups. They include Postmates, an on-demand delivery service; the Players Tribune, a digital media venture started by baseball legend Derek Jeter; and Acorns, an investing app allowing users to keep up with their daily purchases and automatically invest the leftover change into a low-cost, exchange-traded fund. The two have invested between $50,000 and $250,000 in early-stage companies and up to $2 million in later-stage ventures. 

Kleiman, who joined Durant onstage, said he has to be precise in explaining any potential investments due to the NBA star's busy schedule

"What I have to do with that time I'm given to talk about these deals is figure out the concept, if it's the right company to introduce him to the executive team," Kleiman said. "If I can't explain it in one sentence, the regular consumer won't understand it in one sentence."

Durant added that he's still learning about tech investments and hopes to be as killer at it as he is on the basketball court. He was later asked during a speed round of questions if he preferred Twitter or Instagram as his fave mode of social media. He initially balked at answering, but eventually said Twitter.

And when asked if he would prefer artificial intelligence-powered referees instead of human refs calling fouls on the court, Durant said he's not ready for the machines.

"They'd call every touch foul. I get away with a lot of stuff, I'm sure they would catch a lot more than a human ref," he said. "I'll stick to what we have right now."

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