Kevin Durant's Pastor Carl Lentz Jokes About Rapper Lil B's Claims He 'Cursed' Thunder Star
Despite rapper Lil B's claim that a curse he put on Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant five years ago prevented the team from winning the Western Conference championship against the Warriors Monday night, the basketball star's Pastor, Carl Lentz, doesn't seem to be taking those declarations too seriously.
When fellow preacher and Coach R.J. Barsh from Southeastern University encouraged Lentz to pray with Durant before a tough end to the Thunder's season, Lentz jokingly responded by referencing Lil B.
"Haha @CoachRjayBarsh you know that man is gonna be BALLIN game 7. Gonna be a good one! I'm [going to] bring @LILBTHEBASEDGOD w/ me. Just for fun," Lentz Tweeted before Durant and his Thunder lost their chance at an NBA championship Monday night.
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Lil B, the 26-year-old Bay Area rapper who also goes by the name Based God, took to Twitter to "curse" Durant in 2011. While Lentz still had faith in Durant, Lil B insisted that his curse remained while basketball fans on social media took notice.
Despite a 3-1 advantage in a best of seven playoff series, Durant's Thunder failed to beat the Golden State Warriors to become Western Conference champions. Lil B took credit for the upset.
And they said the curse was not real," Lil B tweeted. "'The BasedGod' has never lied to me and like he told us, the Warriors are going to the finals."
Before the Thunder lost Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, Lentz made it clear that he did not always enjoy the basketball analysis of those on social media.
"Reading Twitter basketball thoughts it's the equivalent to listening to bad late night Christian TV prophecy guys," the pastor tweeted.
In a GQ magazine interview back in January 2015, the Oklahoma City Thunder forward spoke about the Hillsong New York City pastor, saying Lentz taught him that God is more about love than following a set of rules.
"I felt like I had to follow the Ten Commandments. But we don't live by that no more," the 27-year-old forward told GQ he surmized from Lentz. "We live by the blood of Jesus. That's how I feel."
Durant was baptized in Hillsong NYC three years ago, and said he once believed "if I do something wrong, I'm going to hell."
Even though Durant plays basketball in Oklahoma City, he revealed that he wanted Lentz, whose church is in New York City, to guide him spiritually. Durant admitted that he was drawn to Lentz because of the way he treated people and liked the fact that the pastor was unfazed by his celebrity.
"I thought you were weird first of all," Durant said while visiting Hillsong and speakingat the service in 2013. "Where I come from pastors are always in nice suits but you just dress like me. I really appreciate it…"
