Kevin Durant on NBA fans: ‘We’re animals, we’re circus acts to them instead of real people’

Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant was walking out to the court on Thursday at the American Airlines Center for an early pregame shootaround for a post-All-Star break matchup with the Dallas Mavericks, when he overheard a female fan call him a “b—ch.” The 16-year veteran responded to her and the male fan nearby.

“My thing was like, even though you called me a b—ch as I’m running out with my back turned, people usually do that, call me coward, b—ch with my back turned, and it wasn’t too many people around,” Durant said.

Mavs fan calls Kevin Durant “a b*tch” and KD pauses to have words.

Security about to kick the fans out when KD comes back to tell them not to kick them out. pic.twitter.com/CTqPnM4T16

— Jonah Javad (@JonahJavad) February 23, 2024

“I know you don’t mean that and I’m not going to get you kicked out because you paid your money for these tickets, you had a couple of drinks and I understand how people get, but it’s better ways to try to get my attention and talk to me other than call me a b—ch out my name because you’re protected in these arenas.”

Durant went back onto the court to continue pregame warmups. Durant then returned when seeing American Airlines Center security were planning to kick the fans out.

The Suns went on to lose 123-113 to Dallas in front of a sellout crowd of 20,377 at the American Airlines Center. Durant finished with 23 points on 9-of-22 (40.9%) shooting from the field and 2-of-8 (25%) beyond the arc.

Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant let the fans stay to watch him play against the Dallas Mavericks

Instead of kicking out the fans, the 14-time All-Star let them watch him play.

“My thing was, there’s better ways to get my attention,” Durant said. “If you want to talk to me, if you want to get to know me, this for everybody. You don’t got to get a reaction out of me by calling me out of my name or disrespecting my character.

“Just say ‘what’s up’ and tell me how you truly feel. You don’t think I’m a b—ch. You respect me more than that. You know I’m not a coward. You respect me more than that. Don’t do that in an arena where you’re protected where you know I’m not going to do anything back.

“They don’t look at us as humans sometimes. When you get a chance to let a person know how you feel real quick, they’ll backtrack. We’re animals, we’re circus acts, we’re entertainers to them instead of real people.” Kevin Durant on Mavs fan incident #Suns https://t.co/Stia87Uz0O

— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 23, 2024

“It’s like, they don’t look at us as humans sometimes. So when you get a chance to let a person know how you feel real quick, then they’ll backtrack. See, we’re animals, we’re circus acts, we’re entertainers to them instead of real people.”

Durant said the female fan did apologize and tried to “play it cool.” Durant also mentioned that her friend explained that she was going through “a lot.” The two-time NBA champ just felt like a zoo animal.

“I get it,” he added. “I know the people want to pet the animals in the zoo, get close to the animals in the zoo, but once they get close, they realize you’re real human beings, too. So you should treat us like that. I could’ve had them kicked out.

“Nah, don’t put that on me. They just called me a b—ch. They didn’t harm me. They didn’t try to harm me, physically. Let them stay and give them something to think going forward.”