Kevin Durant and Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia have been going back and forth on X, and KD’s latest jibe involves former teammate Bradley Beal.
NBA superstars generally don’t tend to speak candidly with the public, but it has never been a problem for Kevin Durant. The two-time Finals MVP is known for getting into it with fans on social media regularly, but on Saturday, it ended up being one of the owners of his former team.
Mat Ishbia, owner of the Phoenix Suns, recently mentioned Durant while sharing how he ‘threw money at the problem’ in his initial days as the owner. KD took exception to this. He clapped back on X, suggesting that he was key to building the ‘culture’ Ishbia values in his franchise. It took off from there.
Kevin Durant told Mat Ishbia to give ‘thanks’ he doesn’t have to pay KD to play for another team
The Suns’ superteam experiment involving KD, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal never worked out. They weren’t even competitive during this era. While flipping Durant to the Rockets brought back assets to the team, things were different with Beal.
As the 38-year-old was beefing with the team owner, Ishbia responded to him by saying, “Didn’t blame you but am happy with the culture we are building here in Phoenix. We got the right guys and right focus now and are excited for this season. Good luck this season in Houston.” That’s when KD brought out the big guns.
“U should be giving Thanks every chance u get. You don’t have to pay me an absurd amount of money to play for another team,” Durant wrote in reply to what was a fairly classy response by the Suns owner.
This is a fairly obvious reference to Beal. Phoenix bought out Bradley Beal in 2025, with the star giving up $13.88 million of the $110.8 million remaining on his deal. The Suns stretched the remaining $96.9 million over five years to help their cap situation and avoid luxury tax penalties.
Beal has subsequently signed a 2-year, $11 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. So the Suns will be paying him for the rest of the decade despite him playing on a different Western Conference team. Durant went hard at Ishbia, and it is enough to wonder if there are some unresolved issues there.
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