Kevin Durant Calls Out Chris Paul for 'Gimmick' After Getting Baited Into Technical Foul

Phoenix Suns forward Durant looks to drive to the basket while defended by San Antonio Spurs guard Paul during the first half at Moody Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Kevin Durant had words for his former teammate Chris Paul during the Phoenix Suns' 120–109 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. The future Hall of Famers beefed throughout the first half, which eventually led to a double technical with three minutes left in the second quarter.

As the buzzer sounded at the end of the first half, Durant continued to yell at Paul on the way to the locker room. Members of the respective teams separated the two before the situation escalated further.

Kevin Durant — Chris Paul exchange words. 👀

pic.twitter.com/ErnoysaZuF
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 21, 2025

CP3 and KD kept talking all the way to the tunnel after the buzzer beater https://t.co/JfaH3wgK6t pic.twitter.com/ragZWPnHUY
— 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒆 🌩 (@Three_Cone) February 21, 2025

After the game, Durant spoke on the heated moments between him and Paul, where he mentioned Paul's history of antics to get into opponent's heads.

"You know, [Paul] likes gimmicks," Durant said to reporters postgame via Cory Mose of KVUE, Austin's ABC affiliate. "Anything to win the game. I think he was just trying to get in my head, knowing I was heating up a bit right around that time too. So I think he was just trying to get in my head, get me to react and get me out the game. But as we kept talking I knew it was just a game and a gimmick for him."

After the game Kevin Durant spoke about his interaction between him and Chris Paul

"You know he likes gimmicks, anything to win the game. I think he was just trying to get in my head, knowing I was heating up a little bit"#SunsUp📷 pic.twitter.com/LU18jCjJNc
— Cory Mose (@Cory_Mose) February 21, 2025

Durant had 22 points and five rebounds in the loss, while Paul had a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists. During the game, Paul passed Jason Kidd to move to second in the NBA's all-time steals list.

San Antonio got the win sans their young phenom Victor Wembanyama after news broke Thursday morning that he was expected to miss the rest of the season due to a form of a blood clot in his right shoulder. Without Wembanyama, the Spurs will have to pull out all the stops to win games. Paul's "gimmicks" certainly helped against the falling Suns on Thursday.