SAN FRANCISCO - Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant on Tuesday apologized for exchanges with fans on Twitter about his departure from the Oklahoma City Thunder, branding his comments "childish" and "idiotic".

Durant, appearing on a Tech Crunch panel in San Francisco, said he regretted posting remarks that cited former coach Billy Donovan and teammate Russell Westbrook.

The NBA Finals MVP was caught out on Twitter after using his official account on the social-media site to reply to comments from a fan asking why he had left Oklahoma City.

"He didn't like the organization or playing for Billy Donovan," Durant wrote in the third person.

"His roster wasn't that good, it was just him and Russ (Russell Westbrook)."

Media reports said Durant had meant to post the remarks from a fake Twitter account.???

Durant on Tuesday took ownership of his gaffe - but vowed to continue replying to fans.

"I use Twitter to engage with fans," Durant said.

"I happened to take it a little too far. That's what happens sometimes when I get into these basketball debates about what I really love, which is to play basketball.

"I don't regret clapping back at anybody or talking to my fans on Twitter. I do regret using my former coach's name and the former organization I played for. That was childish. That was idiotic, all those types of words. I apologize for that."

Durant said while he would continue to interact with fans, he expected to scale back his social-media activity.

"I don't think I'll stop engaging with fans," Durant said. "I really enjoy it, and it's a good way to connect us all, but I'll scale back a little bit right now and just focus on playing basketball.

"I'll move on from that, it was tough to deal with yesterday."

Agence France-presse