NBA Twitter is the most entertaining Twitter of all sports Twitters. For proof, look no further than one Earl Joseph Smith III.
But the latest nugget of NBA Twitter gold comes via a beef between two of the game's biggest stars, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant. It started when Durant, one of the sport's nicest guys, dissed Wade in an interview.
See also: The 17 Types of Pickup Basketball Player
Sports Illustrated recently released a ranking of the NBA's top 100 players. Durant came in second on that list, Wade eighth, and Durant's buddy and former teammate James Harden came in 11th. Durant, however, told CineSport that Wade should have been replaced in the top 10 by Harden.
Wade, a three-time NBA champ who's been slowed by nagging injuries and heavy mileage the past couple of years, took umbrage to this assertion. So he did what any rational person in the 21st century does in such a situation — took to social media. He tweeted a link to this Instagram photo:

It's actually not hard to picture a furious Wade sitting at home scribbling notes with a fountain pen into a notepad laid atop a mahogany table while vowing revenge. He even takes a thinly veiled shot at Durant's legacy with the note's final reference to the Heat beating the Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals.
Durant, however, stuck to his guns with this to-the-point subtweet:
Show me don't tweet me..
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) September 25, 2013
The mini-beef was enough to stoke basketball-starved NBA fans' passion and make Wade's name a worldwide Twitter trend on Tuesday night. As for what Wade can actually "show" Durant on the court, we'll have to wait until Jan. 29, when the Heat and Thunder square off for the first time this season. Clear your schedules now, folks, it should be a good one.
BONUS: The 10 Most Epic Celebrity Twitter Fights
Looking for a way to amp up the drama, Amanda Bynes took her Twitter sass to a whole new level in May with a seemingly unwarranted attack on pop star Rihanna and Chrissy Teigen of Sports Illustrated fame, calling both stars ugly. In one particularly notable moment, the former child star suggested Chris Brown's 2009 abuse of Rihanna was a result of her being "not pretty enough." Ms. Bynes, that is a new low.
Alec Baldwin quit Twitter again this summer following an article by journalist George Stark of the Daily Mail. The piece falsely accused Baldwin's pregnant wife, Hilaria Thomas, of tweeting during the funeral of James Gandolfini. The rant is still causing a stir for the 30 Rock star, as conservative activists demand that Capital One drop him as a spokesperson due to the homophobic nature of his tweets. Baldwin has since apologized for his language but not for defending his wife.
Hell hath no fury like a fandom scorned. British GQ got a taste of that hell when the magazine released its One Direction covers in July. The tagline under Harry Styles' cover, "He's up all night to get lucky," evoked such rage from Directioners that GQ's servers couldn't handle the influx of hate tweets.
It was only a matter of time before these two butted heads. After Hilton posted a photo from an alleged eyewitness who spotted Bynes jumping on a trampoline, Bynes replied with her usual onslaught of "ugly" tweets. Eventually, Bynes insisted Hilton commit suicide. No stranger to death threats, Hilton expressed his concern for Bynes and his hope that she receive treatment.
On May 31, Bynes eventually retracted her statements about the blogger, saying, "you're not ugly! I was lying because we haven't talked in person in a long time. Please stop being mean on twitter! Thx!"
How nice.
In one of the most famous Twitter feuds of all time, Perez Hilton ended up with a black eye after calling will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas a "f***cking f*ggot." While it's unclear who exactly gave Hilton the shiner, will.i.am posted a vlog insisting it was not him. Regardless who actually threw the punch, Hilton took to Twitter to seek help from the police. You know, because 911 is too old school.
In a more recent Twitter feud, Hilton found himself on the wrong side of Lady Gaga's little monsters when he was seen in the lobby of Gaga's apartment building in New York. Gaga accused Hilton of stalking her, despite his insistence it was nothing more than innocent house-hunting. Gaga's fans also let their claws out, voicing death threats and derogatory comments about Hilton's six-month-old son.
Hilton, who was once friends with the pop star, insisted that the "real" Lady Gaga was different than her public persona, calling her "cruel" and insisting he was "still healing, removing your knife from my heart" after the two's apparent fallout.
Plenty of celebs take to tweeting after a breakup, but it's hard to beat a Kardashian when it comes to drama. Rob K took to the Twittersphere to bash ex Rita Ora, saying she cheated on him with no less than 20 other men. While Ora remained mostly silent on the subject, one errant tweet did surface before it was quickly erased: "Rob’s d--k was wack, I had to go get it somewhere else."
Kardashian didn't take kindly to the insult, hinting he had gotten Ora pregnant. That exchanged remained on the site only briefly before it was taken down.
One party who did remain positive throughout the feud? Rob's sister Khloe, who offered some advice: "Cheaters never prosper @RobKardashian ill be home today... Try and smile little brother."
While Chris Brown was no one's favorite person after the abuse scandal surrounding girlfriend Rihanna, one comedienne in particular, Texas-based writer Jenny Johnson, wanted to let the R&B singer know just how she felt about him. A little bit of harassment went a long way, and it didn't take too long for Brown to delete his account, but not before he tweeted: "Just ask Rihanna if she mad??????"
Brown's account has since been reactivated.
Now that Brown has returned to Twitter, fans can follow his breakup drama with on-again, off-again girlfriend Rihanna. The tumultuous trainwreck that is the Rihanna/Chris Brown relationship just won't go away, with the breakup feud continuing through August.
RiRi tweeted an image bearing the words "If I drop all my hoes for you and we still don't work out you owe me some hoes." While the sentiment seems pretty clear, Brown's "She's not mine if she's everybody else's" tweet definitely left no room for doubt about the reason for the pair's latest breakup.
After the acid-tongued Handler jabbed Cannon's comedy tour, saying: "I just heard nick cannon is starting a comedy tour. Who’s going to do the comedy?" Cannon was clearly a little peeved at the tweet, but didn't really let loose until Handler posted a TwitPic of grape soda with the tweet "pls drink this before you tweet me again." It was at this point that Cannon wilded out (sorry not sorry for that one), letting loose the slew of angry tweets (plus a few more) that you see above.
Leave it to Internet favorite Patton Oswalt to create one of the punniest feuds on this list. When radio host John Tesh sent out a request for new hashtag ideas, Patton Oswalt gave a couple of suggestions, none of which seemed up to Tesh's high standards. Read the full conversation here.
Image: Flickr, Keith Allison