Kevin Durant Makes Feelings Clear on Suns After Cold-Blooded Game-Winner vs. Former Team

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Kevin Durant came through in the clutch to lift the Houston Rockets to a 100-97 home victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday.

Afterward, the superstar forward didn’t mince words about his former team, calling out Phoenix for “scapegoating” him during his two-and-a-half-year stint with the franchise.

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Kevin Durant Sounds Off on Suns After Delivering Gut-Punch Loss to Ex-Team

In a back-and-forth battle against his former co-star Devin Booker, Durant got the last laugh. After Booker came up well short on a go-ahead midrange shot attempt, Houston got the ball back with the score knotted at 97-97 with 5.1 seconds remaining.

Upon receiving an inbounds pass, Durant freed himself up for a pull-up 27-foot 3-pointer to put his squad ahead 100-97 with 1.1 seconds to go. The cold-blooded shot proved to be the game-winner, as Booker couldn’t get a triple off on the other end before the final buzzer, squandering his game-best 27-point performance.

Playing in the absence of his co-star Alperen Şengün (ankle), Durant finished with a team-high 26 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, shooting 9-for-21 (42.9%). While he shot just 2-for-12 from beyond the arc, the two-time NBA champion stepped up when it mattered most as Houston improved to 3-0 against Phoenix this season.

However, the nature of Monday’s win was extra satisfying for the 37-year-old.

“Most definitely,” Durant said postgame when asked if his game-winner meant more to him because it came against the Suns. “A place that I didn’t want to leave. My first time — I don’t want to sound too dramatic, but I will — to be kicked out of a place.”

Durant was shipped to Houston in early July in a historic seven-team deal that sent wings Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green to Phoenix. The move ended his tumultuous tenure with the Suns, which was marked by chemistry issues and team-wide underperformance.

Phoenix won just one playoff series with Durant and Booker at the helm of its offense, stumbling to a disastrous 36-win finish and a draft lottery appearance last season. Their divorce has since paid off for both sides, with the Rockets (22-11) and Suns (21-15) both thriving.

Still, Durant appears to be holding a major grudge against Phoenix over its handling of his unceremonious exit.

“It feels good to play against a team that booted you out of the building and scapegoated you for all the problems they had,” Durant continued. “And it hurt because I put all my effort and love and care towards the Suns and the Phoenix area and Arizona in general. But that’s just the business, that’s the name of the game. So, when you play against a [former] team, yeah, you got a chip on your shoulder.”

The 15-time All-Star then made it clear that his vendetta is squarely against the organization rather than Booker or any of his other ex-teammates.

“It’s nothing but love for the players, but I want to beat that team,” Durant shared. “I want to show them that I still got some juice in the tank. Even though I’m old, I still can play. I feel like every player has that mentality playing against their former team.”

The Rockets won’t face the Suns again until April 7 in Phoenix. That said, Durant stressed that he’s hoping his resentment won’t linger too long as Houston sets its sights on climbing the Western Conference standings.

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