Kevin Durant is staying in Phoenix as another tumultuous second half and ensuing offseason comes into focus for the Suns.
As the 2025 NBA trade ᴅᴇᴀᴅline came and went for the Suns Thursday, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported on “NBA Today” that the team had a very awkward shootaround ahead of Wednesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I’ll use ‘toxic’,” Shelburne said, describing the Suns’ locker room after a tough trade ᴅᴇᴀᴅline that saw most players floated in deals. “That shootaround, I heard, was very awkward, very weird because everyone was on pins and needles wondering what they were going to do.”
The Suns, missing an injured Durant, went on to lose by 31 points to the Thunder, knowing that the front office was discussing trades for several players, including Bradley Beal and Durant, who reportedly nixed a trade that would’ve sent him back to Golden State.
“Now you have this reset where, how do you move forward as a team where there was a clear mandate here where they have to do something, and if they’re not able to get anything done… There’s aprons, there’s all of this stuff, it’s really hard to do something and the thing they were trying to do does not come into fruition because Kevin Durant said no,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said of the Suns’ position. “It’s hard to move forward and that’s where they’re left.”
