The many news and speculations that surrounded Kevin Durant in the past several weeks affected the Phenix Suns so much that the locker room atmosphere of the team has become “toxic,” as claimed by a league insider.
The Phoenix Suns and Kevin Durant were two names that have been talked about in trade rumors and speculations in the past months. People and teams have been linked to a potential KD trade, and the Suns have been a huge part of the Ji9mmy Butler and Miami Heat drama as well. However, as the trade deadline closed, the Suns ended up not making the blockbuster, core-shaking move that everyone was expecting them to.
As reported by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, this long-running thread of talks and rumors has affected the Suns locker room and the overall team environment.
“The word I would use is toxic,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said during Thursday’s NBA Today. “That shoot-around yesterday, I heard, was very awkward, very weird in Oklahoma City, because everybody was on pins and needles, wondering what they were going to do. Now you have this reset where, how do you move forward as a team? When there was a clear mandate here that they have to do something. And the thing they were trying to do did not come to fruition because Durant said no.”
“They [Suns] essentially were, ‘If we can’t move Bradley Beal, we have to think about Kevin Durant.’ Now, do they wanna move Kevin Durant? Probably not. I mean, they love Kevin Durant, they gave up so much to get him.”
“That shoot-around yesterday I heard was very awkward.”@ramonashelburne describes the current energy in the Suns locker room as “toxic” 😳 pic.twitter.com/YEG01mtLVX
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 6, 2025
What Made Kevin Durant Rumors “Toxic”?
The trade rumors surrounding Kevin Durant reportedly atmosphere around the Suns. The team reportedly tried to trade Bradley Beal, but his no-trade clause and the high cost of his $50 million per season salary made it difficult.
Since they couldn’t trade Beal, the only option to significantly alter the roster was to consider trading Kevin Durant. Devin Booker was off-limits, as he was seen as untouchable. Reports indicated that the Suns preferred to keep Durant and Booker together and bring in another star. However, when that plan fell through, rumors about trading Durant began to spread. And thus, he ended up as another star who knew the team thought about trading him.
For now, Kevin Durant stays with the Suns. He currently averages 26.9 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. He shoots 52.4% from the field.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
