Kevin Durant and Chris Paul used to be teammates, but you wouldn’t know it based on what transpired during Thursday’s game.
The two multi-time All-Stars got heated as Durant’s Phoenix Suns were facing off against Paul’s San Antonio Spurs. After Durant got the ball knocked away from him on an entry pass attempt in the first half, he started clapping and yelling at Paul. For his part, Paul mostly refused to engage and instead pulled his San Antonio teammate De’Aaron Fox in between him and Durant before pointing his finger at Durant.
Here is the video.
Durant and Paul were hit with double technical fouls for the incident. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reported that the two also continued to talk trash heading into halftime and that Durant had to be held back by Suns assistant coaches and directed towards the locker room. The Spurs led for virtually the entire first half and took a 60-54 lead into the break.
The 39-year-old Paul is known as one of the NBA’s great instigators and loves getting under the skin of opponents, usually through subtle methods. Even in his debut season with the Spurs (and his 20th overall in the NBA), Paul still continues find ways to irritate the opposition.
As for Durant, 36, he has a reputation as a top trash-talker and never backs down from anybody. Interestingly enough, Durant was actually teammates with Paul on the Suns during the 2022-23 season and previously on Team USA as well (where they won Olympic gold together at the 2012 London Games). But on Thursday, the two might as well have been mortal enemies with the way that they got into each other’s faces.
