LeBron and Durant are working out together. Again. - NBCSports.com

They did it last year during the lockout â€" LeBron James and Kevin Durant worked out together. And both said it was the best training of their summer. They bonded. They pushed each other.

So, they are back at it again this summer, tweets Brian Windhorst at ESPN.

LeBron & Durant are back working out with each other in preparation for training camp. Last year they called it “hell week.”

This bothers some fans who want the old-school notion that rivals hated each other. Which had some legitimacy three or four decades ago when players didn’t get to know each other on the youth/AAU circuits as well and stars often stayed with teams for a career. But even when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson got to know each other, they became friends.

Now, it’s different. Players don’t carry rivalries over into the off-season the way fans do. Guys from different teams and parts of the country work out together all off-season long. And there’s nothing wrong with it â€" you as a fan don’t have to like the Heat, but if your guys are getting better working out with some of their players then it’s good for your team.

The bottom line is LeBron and Durant are the two guys on the planet capable of pushing each other on the court. If you are a fan of the Thunder and want Durant to grow his game, this is one way he can do it. It may be the best way he can do it. And he comes to camp in better shape and more ready.

So long as these friendships don’t carry over to games, it doesn’t matter. And if you think LeBron and Durant went easy on each other in the finals, I think you were on the wrong channel watching some baseball interleague games. Because they went at it hard.