As the Phoenix Suns‘ season rears its ugly head, it seems the team can’t go a full day without some unnecessary drama — especially when you have Kevin Durant. When you’re coming up as short of expectations as they have, though, the drama sort of creates itself.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Arizona Sports 98.7 co-host of Bickley and Marotta, Dan Bickley, went on a signature rant on Monday’s episode suggesting the Suns need to blow it up by not only trading Durant, but also their longest-tenured Sun, Devin Booker, for his sheer underperformance this season.
The popular radio host took it a step further by outright blaming Durant for Booker’s shortcomings.
“(Booker) is eligible for a 3-year, $212 million extension and he is simply not worth $70 million a season,” Bickley said. “There was a time when Book was a real killer. A time when he was better than Donovan Mitchell. Neither is longer the case. And in my darkest moods, I fear the arrival of KD has had a terrible chilling effect on our hometown hero.
“Either way, the Suns are about to enter a gnarly stretch of schedule and the forecast for zombie basketball is very high. In other words, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.”
Bickley isn’t wrong, Booker hasn’t had the best season by his standards, but blaming it on Durant is what really triggered much of the fanbase, and even the 36-year-old All-Star.
Durant took to X (formerly Twitter), as he typically does, to respond to this outrageous claim but quickly deleted his posts.
In the first reply, Durant responded directly to the the Arizona Sports clip, saying: “Is he serious? No way this is the narrative they running with in Phx. No way I’m hearing this right,” followed by a slew of laughing emojis.
In the next reply, Durant further defended himself and mentioned Bickley by name: “When Book plays great, I get no mention. When he has a tough game, it’s somehow because of my presence?? That logic is crazy @danbickley.”
Kevin Durant deleted tweets ???? pic.twitter.com/tB5vKhr6xC
— ➊ (@wrldofbook) February 24, 2025
Maybe Durant deleted his posts to move past the conversation outright, but Bickley’s initial monologue, and KD’s subsequent responses, created a rippling effect in the Suns fanbase. Many were assured that the local media would be the reason the 15-time All-Star would leave Phoenix.
Others are just outright tired of Durant catching the heat for what this season has become.
This is peak #BlameKD omg lmaoooo https://t.co/cNIOZyAryD
— Eddie Gonzalez (@bansky) February 24, 2025
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Reporter Connor Moreno covers the Phoenix Suns for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @cmorenosports, and on Bluesky, @cloading.bsky.social
