The Best Sports Beefs in 2017

With the evolution of social media and the media’s attention on players' feelings, sports beefs have increased in quantity and pettiness. Although nothing surpasses the Kobe-Shaq beef especially because of Shaq’s freestyle back in the day, asking Kobe to tell him how his ass tastes, there have been many interesting new individual rivalries cultivated recently.

The beefs could be a result of on the field actions, verbal attacks, and of course, switching teams. Or you can the be New York Knicks and cause havoc for no reason at all. Or you can be the President of the United State and send out way too many tweets about star athletes peacefully protesting while other American citizens suffer following a devastating natural disaster. 

Regardless, there's more to our favorite sports than just wins, losses, and stats—politics and emotions are a big part of it. So with that being said, here are the best beefs in sports right now:

With a war possibly brewing against North Korea and other issues to attend to, President Donald Trump thought it would be appropriate to call out NFL players for protesting racial injustice and social issues, calling the players who kneel "sons of bitches" during a rally in Alabama.

American citizens exercising their right to freedom of expression called sons of bitches by Trump. #loserpresident pic.twitter.com/UbKA2MjRs7

— John McCallum Swain (@bazuemague) September 26, 2017

Trump started a war of words with NFL players and a portion if not all players of every team performed some type of demonstration before the game in Week 3. Some of the league’s brightest stars made sure their voices were heard after Trump’s comments...

The behavior of the President is unacceptable and needs to be addressed. If you do not Condemn this divisive Rhetoric you are Condoning it!!

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) September 23, 2017

I'm ok with being fired for what I believe in.

— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) September 23, 2017

Does anyone tell trump to stick to politics, like they tell us to stick to sports? Smh.

— Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) September 23, 2017

Whether you like it or not, this is the newest rivalry in sports. There was never a Wade-James or Durant-Westbrook type relationship between Kyrie and LeBron which should make the break up a bit more interesting. They are the two favorites in the Eastern Conference to play for a trip to the NBA Finals and that alone creates a rivalry. But Irving’s comments in the media or lack thereof hint at some issues he had with the King. He couldn’t even admit the obvious answer of who the best player on the planet.

Kyrie Irving answers Stephen A.'s "Is Durant better than LeBron now?" And "Kobe or LeBron?" interrogation: pic.twitter.com/OinEYoRbXE

— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) September 18, 2017

Irving also had no regrets about not telling James about his trade request.

Kyrie answered three questions with one-word answers in 20 seconds lmaoooo pic.twitter.com/PoWHCgFDUl

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 18, 2017

James and Irving are doing a great job of masking their feelings but everything in the dark eventually comes to light.

Although there’s speculation that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have rekindled their relationship, there was no love lost during the NBA 2016-17 season. When the breakup happened on July 4, it wasn’t long before we saw the subliminal shots from both players. In fact, Westbrook responded to the move immediately on Instagram.

Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins broke down the meaning of the post. We saw the on-court verbal altercations between the two, the pregame photographer outfit from Westbrook imitating one of Durant’s passions, and the famous “Now I do what I want” Jordan commercial from Westbrook. The two MVPs couldn’t even look at each other during All-Star Weekend.

Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook continue to avoid one another. pic.twitter.com/bfeDwsRLRZ

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 18, 2017

If we’ve learned anything this offseason about Durant, it’s that when he’s not playing basketball he’s reading all your comments on social media and either responding from a second account or tweeting at you from his verified account. NBA fans recently discovered Durant’s second Instagram account and it didn’t look pretty for the 2017 NBA Finals MVP. 

so @NBA_Reddit found Kevin Durant's private instagram https://t.co/7MMeNual1u pic.twitter.com/jAdRbxQny2

— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 18, 2017

Durant later admitted that it was his account and he apologized for taking it too far. One thing Durant has no regrets about is his Twitter clapbacks. Durant doesn’t care who you are. If you try to troll him and he doesn’t like what you said, he will strike back with no boundaries.

What is softer? @KDTrey5 or @TexasFootball?

— Eroc RDT (@BarstoolRDT) September 2, 2017

your mother

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) September 2, 2017

Let’s get this out of the way first. LaVar Ball is one of the greatest businessmen of all-time. In a matter of eight months, he’s created a brand that’s garnered serious attention nationwide whether it's from the play or actions of his sons or his own public antics. In the words of Rico Richie, “if you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t poppin” and Ball has plenty of them. LeBron, Shaq, and Joel Embiid have all had their moments calling out Ball but Fox Sports could be his biggest hater—especially Jason Whitlock and Kristine Leahy. Whitlock and Leahy both publicly criticized Ball for how he’s raising and handling his children. Ball rightfully took offense to that and responded to both of them with no chill.

Lavar Ball tells Kristine Leahy "You're a hater" because she said she would never wear Big Baller Brand. #StayInYoLane 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/SShGBo6GZX

— Today'sLoop (@TodaysLoop) May 17, 2017

Lavar Ball taking shots at Jason Whitlock "I don't think he can comment on anything but snacks" pic.twitter.com/IKONhYAbrG

— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) May 17, 2017

As any Big Baller would do, Ball then capitalized off the moment by putting out “Stay in Yo Lane” shirts.

"STAY IN YO LANE!" Go to https://t.co/hqvuv4wISG to purchase pic.twitter.com/kmEEG3eTwd

— Lavar Ball (@Lavarbigballer) May 25, 2017

The New York Knicks organization has been lost for a long time and a lot of that has to do with owner James Dolan. Former Knick Charles Oakley was arrested after an altercation broke out during a Knicks-Clippers game this past February after he was asked to leave the arena. Although there are different versions of what actually happened that night, we've all seen the video footage of Oakley getting physical with the security guards.

Charles Oakley Reportedly Told MSG Security: "All of You Suck Dolan's D*ck!" pic.twitter.com/8R2xIoK2nP

— Complex (@Complex) February 11, 2017

Oakley and the Knicks organization haven’t seen eye-to-eye and that probably played large role in what occurred. The Knicks followed up by banning the fan favorite from the Garden for a year but that would later be lifted in April. Just earlier this month, Oakley filed a lawsuit against MSG and Dolan. Only the Knicks would find a way to make one of their favorites an enemy.

Draymond Green made it clear that he was Team Mayweather all day when he saw a photo of Conor McGregor wearing a No. 23 Warriors jersey.

Well, the No. 23 wasn’t Draymond's jersey. It wasn’t a Jason Richardson or Mitch Richmond jersey either. After Mayweather showed his appreciation for the support, McGregor quickly followed and popped into Green’s comments to let him have it.

Conor McGregor vs Draymond Green 👀 pic.twitter.com/rJeQ0ViNtg

— NBA para todos (@NBAenlinea) July 29, 2017