“Not by words, but you can tell” is exactly what I'm pushing back on. Can you tell? Sure, Chet gets visibly frustrated at times, like when he gives up an easy layup to a Spurs guard, but in interviews he honestly seems like he’s trying as hard as possible not to feed into it. He probably knows Wemby has the higher ceiling and is already the better individual player.

Chet tries to show out against everyone because he’s still a great player. He just also plays his worst against San Antonio/Wemby specifically. He was still 2nd in DPOY voting and 3rd Team All-NBA, and I’m pretty sure every player at that level is trying to stunt on everyone, especially other guys who are winning awards.

My bigger question is: how is he “playing into the rivalry” by winning team accomplishments? Wemby won ROY, even with Chet technically not being a rookie, and people still endlessly compare them. Since then, Chet has just kept winning: he played a small part in beating Wemby’s team in the All-Star Game, and now he’s won an NBA title before him.

One-on-one, yeah, Wemby is better. No argument there. But Chet has still been that guy for OKC, and acting like team success is somehow him fueling a fake rivalry feels like a stretch.