Kevin Durant Calls Out Reporter By Name After Ugly Trade Rumors

Kevin Durant has reacted to rumors that the Suns were shopping him around at the deadline and called out a reporter for their unfairness.

“It’s just business, man” Durant told reporters after the Suns’ Feb. 10 practice. “It’s part of business. Everybody is bought and sold in this league. Anybody can be up for auction. So I understand that. It’s just about getting back on the court, trying to go out there and play the game that I love.”

Then, KD took aim at ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne for her reporting.

“I heard Ramona Shelburne come out and say our locker room is toxic,” Durant said. “I try to tell people who aren’t around this game too much, it’s easy to say our locker room is not connected when you come in there 45 minutes before and guys are in their game mode and not talking to each other. Four or five guys might be in the training room, a few guys might be in the weight room. It’s not a welcoming environment right before the game, you know what I’m saying? That’s part of getting ready to play.

“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’ve been in our locker room and then you can make a narrative? I don’t think that’s fair to us, but like I said, that’s a part of the game. Part of the business we signed up for.”

The reporter shared her findings on NBA Today on February 6:

“The word I would use, he used glum, I’ll use toxic,” Shelburne said. “That shootaround 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 if they’re not able to get anything done, which, as we say, you talked about it in the open, it’s really hard to do something. The thing they were trying to do did not come to fruition because Kevin Durant said no. It’s hard to move forward and I think that’s where they’re left.”