“Skipping over the details and always taking the ‘get ’em next game’ mentality. At some point, you got to draw a line and should’ve been drawn a long time ago,” said Devin Booker, a few weeks ago when explaining the team’s shortcomings in this tournament. The ongoing season is certainly not going the way Kevin Durant and Co. would have wanted it to go. With less than 20 regular season games remaining, the Western Conference franchise now holds a 30-36 win record and the 11th seed. Plus, it does not help that analysts like Skip Bayless are blaming the poor win record on KD. The mental toll that has now taken over the veteran does not allow him to even care about his teammate’s antics on the court.

Kevin Durant participated in a Q&A session after his team’s recent 111-104 loss against the Houston Rockets. During the same, he was asked about the incident in the 2 quarter. The one where Mason Plumlee and Steven Adams fought with each other. It caused both players to be ejected from the game after receiving double technical fouls. The scuffle was intense, as seen by the fact that Plumlee left the game while reportedly bleeding from his head. Despite this, when asked about his opinion on the ejection, Durant answered, “My opinion on that does not matter.”

When asked if the incident impacted the game itself, the veteran replied, “None at all”. No emotion crossed the ‘Slim Reaper’s face when giving both responses.

Kevin Durant is, in no way, an unsupportive teammate. From attending the spring training performance of Ryan Dunn’s younger brother to helping Anthony Edwards with shot advice during Team USA’s practice sessions, the veteran keeps proving that he does not back away from helping his peers. Amid rumors of a ‘toxic locker room’, Collin Gillespie even defended KD. He said, “It’s always crazy to me when you see stuff on social media about people saying stuff about (Durant) being a (bad) teammate because he’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had”. Gillespie even credited Durant for being someone who keeps “cheering his teammates on and giving us a ton of confidence”.

In light of this, one would question why Kevin Durant did not support Mason Plumlee. Even if Plumlee might have been in the wrong, he was hurt in the scuffle. Then again, with the Suns having lost 4 of their last 6 games, one cannot blame KD for being emotionally gutted and not caring about anything else. Or maybe he was still upset about the fumble the 35-year-old Center made a few games ago.

Kevin Durant scolded Mason Plumlee for a bad screen during a Suns-Pelicans game

With the NBA regular season set to conclude in a few weeks, tensions are at a high point. For the Phoenix Suns, looking to qualify for at least the Play-In series must be a priority. Therefore, in times like these, good gameplay is encouraged more than ever, while mistakes come under scrutiny more often. It didn’t help that Mason Plumlee gave Kevin Durant a reason to get mad at him a few weeks ago, either.

During a Phoenix Suns-New Orleans Pelicans matchup in late February, the latter team led by 102-99 with 7:12 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. As Kevin Durant gained possession, he was blocked by Jamal Cain. Anyone who played NBA 2K knows the next thing is to get your teammate to form a screen. However, Plumlee failed to make a screen to block Cain, and stayed behind Durant.

After he saw Plumlee, Durant passed the ball to another teammate and yelled at the Center. Mason Plumlee should have realized then that when the team was 2-10 over the last 12 games back then, it wasn’t a good time to test the veteran’s patience.

Unfortunately, he did not improve things for himself recently by getting into a fight with Steven Adams. It remains to be seen how the dynamic between Kevin Durant and Mason Plumlee will be going forward.