From sharing meals, car drives, to battles on court and an apparent fallout, is how one can truly define Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell’s friendship. The former would dominate the stat sheet, and the latter collected trophies. They were never shy about taking shots at each other on and off the court. Which is why prominent media member Bill Simmons felt the Lakers legend would have used a burner to diss the Celtics legend.

This idea was discussed since the alleged X account @gethigher77, many believe belongs to Kevin Durant. The tweets are against the Rockets star’s former teammates and even current teammates. Since KD is active on social media, thrashing fans, the idea of him using the burner was not far-fetched. But Simmons feel Wilt Chamberlain would have used it only to dunk on his arch rival.

“Here’s one I definitely think would’ve had a burner account, no question. Wilt Chamberlain,” said Simmons. “I read all the books he wrote, he would trash everybody. His teammates, coaches, he would blame everybody else. This is why all the other players didn’t like him; he got traded twice. I just think he absolutely would’ve had burner accounts and would’ve been like ‘Bill Russell sucks, he has no left hand.’ It would’ve been something like ‘Dipper69’ account.”

Furthermore, Simmons also called the Lakers legend “most sensitive” and someone who is “always trying to patch his legacy on the fly.” Over the years, Wilt Chamberlain would often criticize his opponents, especially Bill Russell, since the matchup brought an unwanted tag.

The two legends battled 143 times (94 in the regular season and 49 in the playoffs). Despite Chamberlain’s scoring proficiency, he would average 29.9 points and 28.1 rebounds per game. Russell only had 14.2 points and 22.9 rebounds per game, but his team won over 60% of the time. This brought a “loser” tag, which the Lakers icon was not fond of.

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“The only thing I was envious of him was that people would, from time to time, call me a loser. Well, you know, if I’m a loser, then nearly everybody else who was playing was, because they won all the time,” he argued previously. If there had been social media back then, Simmons thinks Wilt Chamberlain would have surely used it to shut his critics down.

However, one thing to note is that the record holder of 100 points would trash-talk on the mic or state his feelings in magazines with his name attached. He was never afraid to speak his mind, so that’s why he wouldn’t have needed any ‘burner account’ to diss people. This is the opposite to Kevin Durant controversy.

KD called his teammate Jabari Smith Jr. a “lowkey ret—ed.” Similarly, he made remarks against his current teammates, including Alperun Sengun. Even former teammates, with whom Durant won the championship, did not get any mercy.  “If u don’t screen and pass up shots for Steph. U gettin waived,” the message from Durant’s alleged burner account commented about Stephen Curry.

While Durant rejected any claims, this controversy won’t die down soon. Just like how the burner account’s tweet didn’t sit right with many, Bill Russell made a similar remark, which soured his relationship with his arch-rival.

Wilt Chamberlain and Russell bonded for eternity

While the media wrote them as arch-rivals, the two would break bread even during Thanksgiving. In fact, Russell would stay at the Lakers legend’s house and eat the food that his mother had prepared. But losses every time led to his mother cracking a joke at his son’s expense. Wilt said in a 1997 interview with Bob Costas. “Now my mother would say, ‘Now, Wilt, we shouldn’t feed Bill so well next time’.”

This friendship continued to stay strong until Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals. When aging, Bill Russell would win his 11th title and retire after the season. This time, the loss was not a problem for Wilt Chamberlain.

He hurt his knee while grabbing a rebound and would not return to the game as the Celtics hung on for the 108-106 victory. In his second memoir, Second Wind, Russell wrote this about Chamberlain’s leaving in Game 7: “Wilt’s leaving was like a misspelled word at the end of a cherished book. My anger at him that night caused great friction between us.”

Apparently, the Celtics legend has stated to multiple people that his arch-rival copped out. They would stop talking to each other, and Chamberlain addressed Russell’s comments, “We were very, very close at one time, and Russell had some statements to make after he got out of basketball, I think, that were somewhat unkind to me,” he said in 1987.

Fortunately, the two reconciled before Chamberlain passed away in 1999 from congestive heart failure. After Chamberlain’s death, Russell only had kind words to say about his friend. “The fierceness of our competition bonded us together for eternity.”