Trade rumors surrounding Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns have been swirling all offseason, but the annual NBA All-Star is tired of hearing them.
It all started with the 2024 NBA Draft, when ESPN reported that the Houston Rockets were looking to acquire Durant from Phoenix in a trade after acquiring multiple draft picks in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith also said on his show “First Take” that the Suns wanted to release Durant from his contract.
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Suns player Kevin Durant reacts during the Western Conference playoffs at the Footprint Center on April 28, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
However, in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Durant denied all of those rumors.
“Any time you want attention, you can just press the ‘KD wants to leave’ button,” Durant told the outlet while training with the USA Basketball Team ahead of the Paris Olympics.
“Yes, that’s a button. What else is going to motivate people at this time of year? And also the story of, ‘Oh, the journeyman is quitting again.’ That story is bound to be a hit.”
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Durant added that rumors about the Suns wanting to trade him are “false” and that it’s been hard to ignore what he’s seen from various media outlets this offseason.
“If anyone is saying Phoenix wants to get rid of KD. [business]”I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Where is this coming from?'” he said. “It bothers me that people would tell lies like that and that viewers would just swallow the headlines. It makes me sad to see people believe lies and just make up bullshit.”
Suns forward Kevin Durant plays against Dallas Mavericks forward Tim Hardaway Jr. at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Dec. 25, 2023. (Joe Camporial-USA Today Sports)
As we can see, Durant has been plagued by trade rumors for quite some time, no matter what stage he’s been in his career at, and that was echoed by Suns general manager James Jones in his comments on draft day.
“It’s a question, it’s a topic of discussion, it’s something that gets clicked that everyone wants to talk about,” he said, via AZ Central.
Durant still has two seasons remaining on his contract with the Suns, earning an average annual salary of $48.55 million.
Though he’s now focused on winning another gold medal with the U.S. national team, Durant still wants an NBA title, and he hopes it can come with the Suns, a team that underperformed last season when they were soundly defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual Western Conference champions, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Obviously, I want to win a championship. Absolutely. I want to play well every game. I don’t even need to say that,” Durant said, via Yahoo!
Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center on March 5, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Durant, 36, will be in his 17th NBA season next year. Last year, he averaged 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5 assists in 75 games with Phoenix.
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