At least one NBA coach thinks the relationship between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook is toxic and beyond repair.

“I think it's very serious, and I think the only thing they can do is split those two guys up,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy joked on Thursday with his team's local reporters. “And I think they need to get them a long way away, I think here to Florida, to diffuse that problem; Kevin Durant here.”

Van Gundy, who watched his Magic give up a combined 44 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists to the All-Star duo in an eight-point season-opening loss to the Thunder on Christmas Day, then turned serious. He said Wednesday's altercation between Durant and Westbrook during a second quarter timeout against Memphis is not out of the ordinary over the course of an NBA season.

“When you're together as much as we are in very competitive situations, you're going to have those conflicts,” Van Gundy said. “You're going to have player-coach conflicts and player-player conflicts. You know, you just are. Because everybody is competitive, everybody wants to win, everybody wants to do well and a lot of times you see situations differently.