The Phoenix Suns didn’t come close to winning an NBA Championship with Kevin Durant, but it’s not like the Houston Rockets are going to do any better.
Like the Suns they are one game from postseason elimination, while Durant has only appeared in a single game to this point. His spot on the bench to support his team? Not even a guarantee.
Durant takes pride in Thunder’s championship
In an upcoming documentary about the Thunder, Durant was interviewed about his thoughts on the team, and he somehow tried to claim some of the shine from their title win of last season.
On OKC's 2025 title:
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) April 27, 2026
Kevin Durant: "I have a sense of pride, man, like I really, really am grateful to be an alumni of the Thunder."
Russell Westbrook: "I was extremely, extremely happy for them, for the fans. They deserve it because they are truly the best fans in sports." pic.twitter.com/HmFZWCRwmM
The words he has used here are hardly laughable, but as always with the 37-year-old context is everything. Is he an alumni? Sure, but many Thunder fans don’t feel as warm and fuzzy about him as he seems to about the franchise.
He could have been their greatest ever player, but instead chose to go to the Golden State Warriors in a move that somehow only gets worse with age.
Durant really isn’t an alumni of anywhere at this point, and that is of his own making. Some Suns fans don’t have any beef with him, instead blaming the lack of talent put around him and Devin Booker when in Phoenix as the reason why things didn’t work out.
But in less than one full season he has already worn out his stay with a lot of Rockets fans, so jumping on a Thunder title at this point feels, just… tone deaf? Then again, that is a criticism that likely can be levelled at Durant going back to his exit from the Brooklyn Nets.
If Booker were to somehow win a championship alongside Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green, would Durant try and take credit for that as well?
He could argue that Booker learned everything he knows from him, while Green and Brooks wouldn't be in Phoenix in the first place if not for Durant being traded to Houston.
If there is one thing we can all agree on though, it is that every version of Durant has been more pleasing to watch offensively than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and that is saying a lot.
The Thunder version is the one most fondly remembered, and although he messed up the chemistry in Phoenix his ability to make a basket has never been in question.
Trying to get in on the Thunder's lone title however? That feels like a step too far.
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