"You could just make up lies": Kevin Durant's frustration mounts as Suns' star blasts media fabrication over trade rumors
Kevin Durant, who has spent another offseason surrounded by trade speculations, spoke with Yahoo Sports after Saturday's practice with Team USA. Despite the claims, he always had his mind on the Phoenix Suns.
"It's hard not to hear what they got to say about you ... especially when you could just make up lies. You can press the 'KD wanna leave' button anytime you want some attention," he said at the beginning of his rant on reporters.
"There's for sure a button ... what else will get people going around this time?" Durant added. "The journeyman is leaving again. That story will always hit."
The former MVP is no stranger to having his name baselessly thrown around, and this offseason, many have speculated an exit from a messy Phoenix Suns team that just got swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs.
Adrian Wojnarowksi, Brian Windhorst pin Kevin Durant to Houston
Last month, Brian Windhorst went on Unsportsmanlike Radio to share 'definite connection' between Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.
"Our GM's, coaches, everybody...we've been locked in," he said.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski also tied the two-time champion to Houston earlier this offseason, tweeting about how they're interested in trading for the 14-time All-Star.
Durant is in the midst of a four-year, $194 million deal that he signed with the Brooklyn Nets in 2021. With him in Phoenix are star guard Devin Booker, who has a four year, $220,441,984 contract, and former Washington Wizards wing Bradley Beal, who earns more than $50 million per year.
The Suns bowed out of the playoffs miserably despite their starpower, getting run off the floor in four straight against a tenacious Timberwolves team led by Anthony Edwards.
Booker and Beal both struggled, while the team's role players offered little help. Although it was their first season together, they showed little cohesion and intensity as a unit, leading fans and eventually reporters to believe that one year is all we'll get from the current Suns roster.
Durant earned a reputation for team-hopping after leaving his first squad, the Oklahoma City Thunder, for the Golden State Warriors in 2016 after losing to them in the Western Conference Finals.
He won two straight championships with the Warriors, and then, after an injury in his third season, he found himself signing with the Brooklyn Nets to partner with star guard Kyrie Irving and eventually former MVP James Harden.
The star-studded trio won just one playoff series together before Durant jumped ship to join yet another perennial all-star in Devin Booker. And again, his new team brought in another all-NBA player, Bradley Beal, to try and win a championship.
With a lot of money wrapped up in just three players and no draft picks until 2028, the Suns complicated future will largely depend on the level of play they get from their stars.