Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant and Dallas Mavericks forward Grant Williams got into it during their game on Wednesday night.
Williams appeared to start things by stepping over Durant after the Suns forward was knocked to the ground.
Things are getting chippy early during the Suns-Mavericks game 👀 pic.twitter.com/9cX7rzxwfH
— Ahn Fire Digital (@AhnFireDigital) January 25, 2024
There has been leaked audio of that altercation, as well as others from Wednesday night’s contest.
“Don’t walk over me,” Durant appeared to say to Williams while pointing at him following the play.
The two teams had to be separated after the incident. The game ended in a Suns win, as the team dominated the second half, outscoring the Mavericks 75-51.
During the incident with Durant, Williams appeared to respond to the two-time NBA Finals MVP, claiming that he was flopping.
“Stop f—— flopping,” Williams appeared to say.
Things didn’t end there. Williams ended up getting ejected from the game after a play with Jusuf Nurkic.
Nurkic said that Williams was “too f—— small” after scoring a basket over him.
Grant Williams gets ejected after getting embarrassed by Nurks staredown pic.twitter.com/AIbSXRkCw3
— Cage (@ridiculouscage) January 25, 2024
That ended up leading to Williams being ejected with 8:46 to go in the third quarter.
Audio of Durant speaking to a fan during the game also leaked.
The fan appeared to be trash-talking Durant, and the Suns forward appeared to respond by sharing how much he’s scored in the NBA.
“I got you 29,000,” Durant appeared to say multiple times.
Tempers were certainly high in the Suns-Mavericks game, as the two teams are jockeying for position in the Western Conference standings.
Clearly, Durant was amused by Williams – or fans – disrespecting him during the game.
Durant didn’t need to have a strong performance for the Suns to win, as he scored just 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. Devin Booker led the way for Phoenix, scoring 46 points in the win.
The other member of the Suns’ Big 3 – Bradley Beal – had 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting against Dallas.
The two teams play again on Thursday, Feb. 22. It’ll be interesting to see if there is any carryover from the game on Wednesday night that leads to the next matchup being more intense than usual.
The Suns now hold the No. 5 spot in the West, while the Mavericks are the No. 8 seed after losing on Wednesday.
