It just had to be him didn’t it? One night after the best win of the season over the Oklahoma City Thunder, complete with Devin Booker game winner, it was Kevin Durant’s turn to take center stage.
That he also nailed a 3-pointer to give the Houston Rockets a 100-97 win, as Booker had also done while essentially being double-teamed, was classic Durant. He will not be upstaged, ever.
Durant shows frustration at Suns woes being his fault
In the aftermath of the game, Durant spoke to the media and did not hold back. The 37-year-old claiming that he was made “a scapegoat” for the failings of the Phoenix Suns for the two full seasons before he left during the offseason.
The thing is, he’s not exactly wrong either. Durant was everything he was supposed to be, but on reflection the cost of getting him to The Valley was ultimately the undoing of this group.
*I just knew it was going up after I came out the huddle."
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) January 6, 2026
Kevin Durant on his game winner 3 to top his former team.
"It feels good to play against a team that booted out of the building and scapegoat-ed you for all the problems that they had and it hurts because I put all my… pic.twitter.com/qdguidaj8S
When you’re stuck in the second apron and forced to try and make it work with Jusuf Nurkic as the starting center, you can’t blame Durant if that doesn’t work out.
It is just unfortunate that Deandre Ayton also wanted to skip town because the 2021 version of himself with Durant and Booker would have made this group that bit better.
It is also not Durant’s fault that the franchise felt the need to trade for Bradley Beal which at the time made sense, they only had to give up Chris Paul, but which was the worst move they could have made.
Beal never got going in Phoenix, but the culture Paul created leaving the building was an underrated factor in the team’s demise.
He may not have felt the love with the L.A. Clippers, but Paul helped create something special in The Valley. Ironically it has taken the addition of Dillon Brooks to get that spirit back, it is just a shame that Durant is no longer around to profit from that.
Which is the real reason the Suns didn’t work out and why Durant is not to blame. They traded away all of their depth, and just importantly soul, to add a superstar to the mix. Can you imagine Durant on this current roster?
They’d be talked about as contenders, his incredible scoring the final piece of a roster built on a defensive identity including Brooks, Collin Gillespie and Mark Williams. But getting rid of all of that was the cost of doing business.
So let Durant have his moment and his “get out of my gym” celebration, the real ones in Phoenix know that even if the vibes and fit with Booker were never quite right, the future Hall of Famer was everything he was supposed to be. Of course it would end with a game winner in the Suns’ faces.