Suns’ Kevin Durant understands ‘microscope’ will be on him for deadline fallout – Arizona Sports

PHOENIX SUNSFeb 10, 2025, 5:25 PMKevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns looks on during a game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on January 06, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)(Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)BY KELLAN OLSONSuns reporter, ArizonaSports.com editorPHOENIX — Kevin Durant cut off the question to add some context.“Let’s get this straight. I haven’t been through this before.”As they say, therein lies the rub.Durant spoke on Monday for the first time since it was widely reported that the Phoenix Suns attempted to deal him prior to the trade deadline, which reportedly frustrated Durant and increased the odds of this being his last season in Phoenix.What the 2013-14 MVP, two-time Finals MVP, 11-time All-NBA honoree and now 15-time All-Star is assumedly referring to is having his organization try to trade him without his knowledge.Durant’s consistent message was that he gets it and how that comes with the territory of being a NBA player, even for him. Every answer he gave that strayed toward anything that could be twisted as him coming off a certain way was ended with his understanding on how this all is.The main gauge that was trying to be checked was if he could confirm his frustration with how everything went down.One of the few times Durant did open up on his own frustration was not with that, but his desire to stay in Phoenix now suddenly being in question when he never wanted to leave in the first place.“If I want to talk in detail, yeah that’s a little frustrating that it’s gonna be in question because I never even insinuated that I wanted to move teams,” Durant said. “Yeah, my happiness will be evaluated, but what it should be is the front office’s happiness that you should be monitoring every day because they make these decisions.“I get that I’m more visible than everybody and I got the bigger name and so everybody’s gonna try to understand what my feelings are like in this time but it’s more than just me that goes through this situation. There’s a lot of people involved. I guess you want to understand my feelings but it should be a lot of other people’s feelings that you should be trying to figure out too and see where their heads at.”Durant was asked earlier in the scrum if his relationship with the front office has changed since the deadline passed and he answered by saying he keeps his own personal relationships under wraps.His biggest frustration is understandably how, well, this is going to be a thing now.“That’s probably the most frustrating part about being in trade talks is that the microscope gonna be on solely just me the rest of the season,” Durant said. “My body language, how I speak to you guys after the games, how I’m looking on the bench — that stuff is going to be magnified. Which sucks, but like I said that’s part of the business that I just gotta deal with and accept.”He is used to that microscope and will not let it affect him.“Man, I’d drive myself crazy. .. I still gotta be a human being,” Durant said.He did confirm that he more or less prevented himself from reuniting with the Golden State Warriors.“Whoever call me and tell me I gotta go then I gotta to go,” Durant said. “Like I said, I wanted to stay here and figure this thing out and see this thing through so if I could get in the way of something like a trade then why not?”The week of the trade deadline was supposed to be a heavy NBA news week without much mention of Durant.But a rapidly developing story with Durant emerged.The Suns on Monday of that week were reportedly fielding calls on Durant with his knowledge but didn’t intend to trade him. That escalated to a three-team trade involving Jimmy Butler going to Phoenix being close on Tuesday to that deal dying on Wednesday because of Durant’s disinterest in returning to the Warriors, which was a rapid 72-hour news cycle.On Friday following the deadline, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Durant was not happy with how he was in trade talks and that a breakup this summer is now likely.Durant did not speak on that specific frustration.“It’s a part of the game. It’s a double-edged sword when you build yourself up to be this great and you do it for this long,” Durant said. “[Expletive] like that happens. It’s not a bad thing that people around the league want me to play for them, it’s not a bad thing that my organization here is fighting off people to keep me on the team, or even dangle me in trades.“That’s just part of being part of the high demand, so I can understand that part of it. This is the most important thing, though, when that ball is bouncing and we in here together as a unit and as a family. I look forward to that every day.”A piece by Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne later mapped out how this entire ordeal went down, including that it was before even trade deadline week during which the Suns and Warriors were discussing Durant’s potential availability. Durant and his agent were not in the know until a few days later when Phoenix visited the Warriors, a moment that the reporting suggests did not come from the Suns side of it. A team source admitted to ESPN they failed in not going through Durant’s agent directly.This whole sequence of events has been set into motion by the Suns holding a 26-26 record as the most expensive roster in the league by a wide margin, one with championship expectations. Durant once again agreed with how that happens when the potential is not being met.“So yeah, somebody’s gonna be up for discussion,” Durant said. “That’s just a part of the game. It’s on us as players to go out there and change the minds of the people making those decisions and getting our fans behind us and supporting us even more. That’s on the players.”He also commented on the report from Shelburne that there is a toxic vibe in the locker room, based off a temperature check of the environment at a shootaround. Durant correctly pointed out that’s not the type of place where you’ll get a great read of the situation.“I think it’s unfair and lazy to categorize our team as toxic when you come in there for five minutes throughout four months that’s the only time you’re in our locker room and then you can make a narrative,” Durant said.If there is anything to take out of it, there is zero indication from Durant himself that this is the type of situation where a falling out has occurred that would affect the rest of the season.“Like I keep saying, that’s just part of the nature of the beast, man,” Durant said. “People gonna make [expletive] up and create narratives and be biased and not use context — I could cry all I want about that type of stuff but nobody really cares at the end of the day. Life ain’t fair, the game ain’t fair. We just gotta go out there — we make a decision to be in this life. If I ain’t wanna be here, I could just retire and quit and be well off but this is the life I chose.”Follow @KellanOlsonDamon Allred
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Source: https://arizonasports.com/nba/phoenix-suns/kevin-durant-trade/3573461/