Private feud between Kevin Durant and Michael Rapaport goes public ... and it’s ugly

It’s hard to recall a back-and-forth between a member of the media writ large and a pro athlete that’s been as nasty. Neither man would let it go, with each trying to push the others’ buttons (and quite successfully).

As the Post’s Ryan Dunleavy reported later Tuesday...

[I]t appears to have reached the boiling point when Durant involved Rapaport’s family. Rapaport shared the messages with a snake emoji and said Durant “is now threatening me, bringing up my wife and wants to fight. This is supposed to be America’s sweetheart right?”

Durant, who has not played for the Nets since injuring his hamstring on Feb. 13, did not refute the messages came from him. Instead, he offered a strange defense of his behavior on Twitter: “Me and mike talk CRAZIER than this on the regular and today he’s pissed….My bad mike, damn!!”

He also wrote on Instagram, “I would never fight mike…The Portnoy thing was too far I see…my bad I apologize.”

The apology, which Rapoport didn’t accept, was an apparent reference to some of KD’s language in another part of the conversation dealing with a failed lawsuit Rapoport filed against Barstool Sports and Dave Portnoy. Those exchanges contained language that can be called both homophobic and misogynist. As Dunleavy noted...

The crude terms used by Durant include telling Rapaport “all u do is c— suck other men for attention,” calling him a “piece of s–t,” telling him to “suck a d–k“ and adding “u called your lawyer like the p—y you are.”

At one point, in an undated message, Durant told Rapaport he would “spit in your face” and challenged him to a meeting on West 17th St. at 10 a.m. He also threatened to come by Rapaport residence if given the address.

It didn’t there, but this is a family-friendly blog.

Rapoport admitted later on the Michael Kay show that he had omitted “a lot” of his own responses to Durant and implied that Durant might be not thinking clearly on pain medications, itself a diss.

There’s a lot more there as Dunleavy reported. Will Durant face any NBA sanctions for his language or will the private nature of the communications mitigate any response? On the other side, what drives a man with more than 120 television and movie credits to spend so much of his time to egg on a basketball player?

Making it all the more odd is that Rapoport has at various times identified himself as a Nes fan ... as Durant noted by posting this image...

Maybe the controversy ends, maybe it doesn’t but no one involved is looking very good right now.