Kevin Durant’s jumper has never needed much help to feel inevitable, but Tuesday night’s dagger against Phoenix carried a different kind of weight.
With the game tied and 1.1 seconds left, Durant rose for a deep, contested three and buried the Suns at the horn, lifting the Houston Rockets to a 100–97 win and completing a season-series sweep of his former team.
KEVIN DURANT HITS THE CLUTCH 3 TO WIN IT FOR HOUSTON 🚨 pic.twitter.com/1lC1qjT0Ok
— NBA (@NBA) January 6, 2026
Afterward, Durant didn’t hide what it meant.
“I don’t mean to sound too dramatic, but I will,” Durant said. “To be kicked out of a place and I felt like I’d been scapegoated for the issues we had as a team last year, yeah it felt good to beat them and hit a game-winning shot.”
Kevin Durant:
“I don’t mean to sound too dramatic, but I will. To be kicked out of a place and I felt like I’d been scapegoated for the issues we had as a team last year, yeah it felt good to beat them and hit a game-winning shot.”
(via @BinkleyHoops)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 6, 2026
It was the bluntest version yet of what’s been simmering since his exit from Phoenix. Durant described it as being “booted… out of the building” and feeling blamed for problems, while acknowledging how much he cared about the organization and the Arizona community, and how, when you face a former team, that chip naturally shows up.
The game itself was messy and tense. Durant finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and he hit the winner despite struggling from deep earlier, having missed 10 of his previous 11 threes before the final shot.
Jabari Smith Jr. delivered the assist, and Houston survived a late Suns push led by Devin Booker, who scored 27 and briefly flipped the game with a late run.
Durant’s emotion wasn’t just about one shot; it was about narrative control. He spent only two-plus seasons in Phoenix, and the ending clearly lingered. Durant joined Houston from Phoenix in a blockbuster deal last summer, and the aftermath has turned every Rockets–Suns meeting into something sharper than a standard regular-season matchup.
In the end, the box score will remember it as a 27-footer for the win. Durant’s quote made clear he’ll remember it as something else: the rare chance to answer a breakup in the only language NBA stars fully trust; the scoreboard, and the last shot.
