PHOENIX — It’s been a tense season for the Phoenix Suns, and All-Star Kevin Durant has been right in the middle of the turmoil.
Entering Tuesday night’s nationally televised contest against the visiting LA Clippers at PHX Arena, the Suns had lost 11 of 14 games, with the latest being a 116-98 home defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Phoenix has been scuffling in the bottom-five of the Western Conference with a record of 28-33, and Durant’s relationship with the organization has been chilly after trade rumors last month.
Tuesday night’s game was off to an uninspiring start. Durant seemed agitated early, and with 3:10 left in the first quarter, he appeared to discard Phoenix head coach Mike Budenholzer’s greeting at the beginning of a timeout.
By halftime, the Clippers led 65-49. With 14 minutes to play, Phoenix trailed 89-66, and the home fans were booing.
But then Durant made more field goals in the last 14 minutes of the game (7 of 12) than the entire Clippers team (6 of 24) to lead Phoenix to an unlikely 119-117 win, the first time the Suns beat a team with a current winning record since they won in Golden State on Jan. 31.
After the game, Durant knew that his disagreement with Budenholzer would be a topic of conversation.
“Yeah, that’s what usually happens when you don’t know the dynamics of a relationship,” Durant said after scoring 21 of his team-high 34 points in a fourth quarter that saw the Suns outscore the Clippers 43-22. “You catch something on TV, you get a quote, and now you pushing that narrative as if me and Bud don’t do that s*** all the time. We’re competitive, as two individuals, who want to see things done the right way. And sometimes my way ain’t the way that Bud wants to do it, and vice versa. And he allows me as a player on the team, a veteran on the team, to voice my opinion.
Kevin Durant and Coach Bud share a spirited exchange 👀
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 5, 2025
“If we both didn’t care, we would never have stuff like that. You know what I’m saying? And I’m glad that the win is going to sweep that stupid stuff under the rug, because people couldn’t wait — even some people in Phoenix, in here, couldn’t wait to run with that and say, ‘Oh, this is the reason why the team ain’t playing well, because of that specific thing.’
“But come on man. That shows that me and Bud really care about trying to … win basketball games. So he understands where I’m coming from. I understand exactly where he is coming from. It’s just people on the outside don’t know the dynamics of the relationship. So in order for them to get some attention, they’re going to run with stuff like that.”
Budenholzer downplayed the first-quarter confrontation with Durant, echoing his star veteran forward after the comeback win with some dry humor and crediting Durant with sparking the Suns.
“You know, he and I are like old friends or whatever,” said Budenholzer, who is in his first season as the head coach of the Suns after winning a championship in Milwaukee and taking the 2015 Atlanta Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals. “We’re always probably grabbing and talking to each other. So I thought his energy and his voice tonight was great. I think there was some kind of play, offensive play — he wanted something, I wanted something. And that’s the beauty of basketball. But I think as the game, really from that moment, his voice and him talking, feedback, ideas, suggestions, it was really, I think, a big part of the night.”
Durant was complimentary of Budenholzer as well, specifically when it came to inserting two-way contract point guard Collin Gillespie into the rotation after halftime following starting guard Bradley Beal’s aggravation of a calf injury. While Beal was scoreless in 14:40 in the first half, Gillespie scored a season-high 10 points off the bench in 14:36, all in the second half. When Beal was on the floor, the Clippers outscored Phoenix by 18 points. But when Gillespie was on the floor, Phoenix outscored the Clippers by 21 points.
“Coach made a great adjustment throwing him in there, to start the fourth quarter,” Durant said. “Every adjustment he made was incredible. He was the catalyst for all of it.”
Durant was critical of the fans booing the Suns throughout the third quarter as the Clippers lead expanded past 20 points. With 9:57 left in the fourth quarter and the Clippers lead slashed to 97-87, Durant stood near mid court on the baseline in front of the scorers table and gestured to the sellout crowd to make some noise. Afterwards, Durant got a take off that he told The Athletic that he had been wanting to unleash for “a while now.”
“I always wondered what booing was going to do for your team, it actually makes no sense,” Durant said. “If you really wanted to make your voice be heard, just get up and leave, and we’ll feel that more than you booing. So we need energy. You know what I’m saying? When we’re down 20, we need y’all to get a little louder in there, cheer a little louder. That was my thing once I started talking to the crowd.”
KD was the engine behind the Suns’ 23-point comeback!
19 PTS on 3 3PM as part of a 43-22 fourth quarter to lift Phoenix to the win ☀️☀️ pic.twitter.com/BVCrAxG2y8
— NBA (@NBA) March 5, 2025
“Booing has been a part of sports culture for the last 50-60 years,” Durant continued. “I think it’s about time we put that up. Just get up and leave if you don’t feel like watching this team play bad basketball, and we would understand. And that would make us feel even worse, seeing you all getting up and leaving. But the energy that they showed how loud they get on a good night, I mean, it’s second to none. So I wanted to ignite that as much as possible.
“I’m sitting there like, ‘Yo, what the f***, like get your ass up! Do something for us!’ So they responded well, it’s nothing but love with this fan base. They always support and always show up and selling out every game I’ve played here. So I think they really enjoyed this win tonight, and this is the type of win, type of team they can get behind if we play that brand of basketball. So I understand booing, but that’s some 1960s, 1970s s***. Just get up and leave.”
The Suns swept the regular season series against the floundering Clippers 4-0, with two of the wins coming after being down by more than 20 points in the second half (Halloween at Intuit Dome). But now the Suns need to take that and build real momentum on the road, where they face four straight teams with winning records: Denver, Dallas, Memphis and Houston. The Suns are still 11th in the West with a 29-33 record, and haven’t won back-to-back games since their previous victory over the Clippers at home on Jan. 27.
“I think everybody needs to bring that playoff type intensity, to focus on every possession, I think that’s more than anything,” Durant said. “Just focusing in on every possession, and building on good possessions, and not letting bad things compound themselves. So, yeah, I mean, that’s the approach we need to take, especially being four games under .500 and it being almost the end of the season. We got to get on our horse and see what we can do. And you know, that pressure should be fun for us.”
(Photo: Joe Camporeale / Imagn Images)
