Durant fires back at Ishbia over Suns tenure — SkimNews
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- Kevin Durant pushed back on X against Suns owner Mat Ishbia, posting that Ishbia 'acts like I got arrested for a DUI or sumn' despite Durant saying he 'stayed on top of his game at 36 and got you back this culture.'
- Mat Ishbia, on CNBC Sport, called the Durant acquisition his biggest lesson as an NBA owner, saying 'I kind of just threw money at the problem' and that the move 'was not aligned with my vision' for Phoenix.
- Ishbia purchased the Suns at a $4 billion valuation in February 2023 and immediately swung the blockbuster Durant trade, sending Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, four unprotected first-round picks, and a first-round pick swap to Brooklyn.
- Durant averaged 26.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists over 62 games in his final Suns season before the franchise traded him to Houston as part of the NBA's first-ever seven-team trade in the 2025 offseason.
- Durant enters his second season in Houston on a two-year, $90 million extension signed last October that includes a player option for 2027-28, and per ESPN Research owns the longest streak in NBA history — four straight seasons of at least 25 points on 50% shooting and 40% from three.
- The Suns reached just one playoff series victory across Durant's 2½ seasons, after which Ishbia installed GM Brian Gregory and head coach Jordan Ott to rebuild the organization around a defined culture.
Why it matters: The public back-and-forth crystallizes a $4 billion owner's accountability problem: Ishbia personally greenlit a trade that cost the Suns two starters and five first-round picks, then blamed the result on lack of 'culture' — while the player he discarded just posted four consecutive historic shooting seasons and signed a $90 million extension in Houston.
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