Durant doesn’t hold back: “I don’t want to to sound too dramatic, but...”
The Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns in a game that held a lot of meaning for Kevin Durant.
If Kevin Durant could’ve set off a real-life rocket aimed at the Sun on Monday night at Toyota Center, he might well have done.
The NBA veteran reminded everyone - and by everyone I mean everyone of a Suns persuasion - why he remains one of the NBA’s most desired names on the roster. A deep three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left was thrown and sank to lift his team to a 100-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns, the franchise he reminded everyone he played for before arriving in Houston last summer. Did you forget?
Durant finished the night with 26 points, but it was that late-game katana blade to his former employers that stole the show and set off a flurry of reactions from fans and media alike.
Kevin Durant hit a game winner vs the Suns and told em to go home.
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 6, 2026
It don’t get much colder than this pic.twitter.com/77EMWbMEIr
“It feels good to play against a team that booted you out of the building”
While game winners are part of his legacy, this one carried more emotional weight because it came against the Suns, who traded him away in a high-profile move last year.
He was asked just that, whether that point meant more. “Most definitely,” he replied. “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.”
“It feels good to play against a team that booted you out of the building and scapegoated you for all the problems they had,” he added. The spark was lit, what the hell. “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.”
"A place that I didn't want to leave... To be kicked out of a place, & it felt like that I've been scapegoated... You play with a little chip on your shoulder... Especially when they trade you."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 6, 2026
Kevin Durant on his game-winning shot against the Suns 👀pic.twitter.com/RGdfBI7ASm https://t.co/boIvcvgcY4
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Durant finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Rockets, which puts them on a 22-11 record. “Even though I’m old, I still can play,” Durant reminded everyone. “I feel like every player has that mentality playing against their former team. I don’t think it’s malicious in any way towards them" - here comes the ‘but’ - “but just as a competitor, you want to go out there and beat them.”
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