SI

Kevin Durant Calls Out 'Lies' About Possibility of a Suns Trade

"You can just press the 'KD wanna leave button' anytime you want some attention"

Josh Wilson

Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns
Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns / Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant is no stranger to seeing his name come up in rumors, but it sounds like reports during this offseason have gotten to the former MVP.

During the draft, reports indicated that the Houston Rockets were interested in putting together a trade package to try to get Durant. The Suns have Durant under contract, and ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski indicated Phoenix wanted to keep him. But some concluded that all that would have been needed to trigger a more serious discussion was Durant's interest in such a move.

Durant seemed to be hinting more at comments from Stephen A. Smith, who recently suggested the Suns wanted to move on from Durant, though it was unclear if he was suggesting he had a source or was making a speculative assessment.

Durant gave his thoughts on that:

"It's hard not to hear what they got to say about you, you know what I'm saying? Especially when you're going to make up lies and everyone gonna believe you. Like you just press the 'KD wanna leave button' anytime you want some attention."

His comments now seem to solidify his confidence in Phoenix and desire to run it back next season with the Suns.

"I've been talking to Phoenix every day since the season ended. Our GMs, coaches, everybody, we've been locked in."

With Phoenix, Durant still has stars alongside him in Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, plus role-playing teammates like Jusuf Nurkić and Grayson Allen returning for 2024–25. Phoenix was knocked out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last season at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in a four-game sweep.

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Josh Wilson
JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.

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