Birdman Has Surprisingly Strong Takes on Dwyane Wade Leaving the Heat and the Durant vs. Westbrook Drama

In interviews with ESPN, Birdman shared his surprisingly strong takes on Dwyane Wade leaving the Heat and the Kevin Durant vs. Russell Westbrook drama.

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Complex Original

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When you want to get a hot take on a sports topic, who do you turn to? ESPN? Sports Illustrated? Fox Sports? Not us! We go straight to the most reliable source for the hottest of all hot sports takes: Birdman! So we were obviously thrilled to see this on Wednesday:

Uh, OK, not really. Some of Birdman’s ESPN appearances in the past have kept us entertained. But as far as sports takes? Not exactly Birdman’s specialty.

That didn’t stop him from taking a trip up to Bristol, Conn. on Thursday morning, though, where he appeared on a variety of ESPN shows to talk all things sports. He started off his journey by stopping by the First Take set, and while he was there, he shared his thoughts on Dwyane Wade’s decision to leave the Heat. He said that Pat Riley—or the "honcho" as Birdman called him, for some reason—should have stepped up and given Wade the paycheck he was looking for before he chose to leave the team to sign with the Bulls. This amused a lot of people on Twitter because, well:

While he was handing out money, Birdman also said Drew Brees should "get a check" from the Saints soon.

And he didn’t stop there! After leaving First Take, Birdman also made an appearance on The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz. He once again talked about D-Wade leaving Miami, but he also offered up some more hot takes on the Kevin Durant vs. Russell Westbrook drama that has been building ever since KD decided to take his talents to the Warriors in early July. And in doing so, he managed to compare himself to Westbrook (amazingly, he’s not the first rapper to do that this month) and he also called KD "disrespectful."

"Westbrook is my favorite player in the NBA of all time," Birdman said. "I think you got respect that come along with the game. I think he deserved to be…I think Durant should have reached out on a respect level like, 'Lil’ bro, this what I’m doing,' instead of just leaving him hanging. I honestly feel he’s going to maintain, because he’s that type of player, with or without [Durant]. They just need the pieces. But I really feel that Westbrook, whatever move or decision he makes, he’s too dominant of a player. He’s like no-holds barred. When he on that court, it’s like he’s fearless. He remind me so much of me and what I do with my craft. I just think it’s no-holds barred. But I also think what Durant did was very, very disrespectful."

Wow. Who knew Birdman had these hot takes in him?! You can check out his First Take appearance in the clip above and listen to him on The Dan LeBatard Showhere. If he says anything else at ESPN on Thursday, he’s bound to walk out of there with a new job.

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