Kevin Durant’s alleged burner account activity may have played a large role in derailing the Houston Rockets’ season.
The Rockets were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers with a 98-78 loss in Game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on Friday, ending their season without a playoff series win. A postmortem by William Guillory and Sam Amick of The Athletic indicated that the situation involving Durant’s alleged social media activity played a role.
Durant’s alleged posts were a “significant distraction” to the team down the stretch, and was never actually resolved internally. Durant and his teammates privately agreed to keep the matter in-house, but it is not clear if the star forward ever made clear to his teammates whether the posts were his or not.
In February, allegations spread that Durant was using a burner account on X to criticize teammates, including Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. The alleged posts spread quickly on social media, though Durant tried to brush the whole thing aside. Durant’s longstanding social media history made the entire scenario more believable, which did not help matters.
Obviously, it took more than a few social media posts to upend Houston’s season, but it does appear the situation was not handled in a satisfactory way behind closed doors. It is also somewhat indicative of an apparent disconnect between him and his Rockets teammates, and that showed up again in the playoffs as he battled a knee injury that ultimately caused him to miss nearly the entire series.
