Late in the Phoenix Suns’ 122-106 win over the Sacramento Kings, Kevin Durant was involved in a verbal spat with Jae Crowder and Cam Spencer. Although it’s unclear what exactly sparked the exchange between the two, fans noted that Durant had been pointing at the Kings’ bench throughout the game.

Then, after the game, the Kings forward, who is currently on a $2.620 million contract (Spotrac), was seen walking past Durant, which led to a full back-and-forth between the two.

Leaked audio from the exchange showed Kevin Durant challenging Crowder to fight, with the future Hall of Famer telling the veteran forward that he isn’t about that life.

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Durant then proceeded to call Crowder an expletive while Crowder was off-screen. The video then shows Durant challenging Crowder to fight off-camera, although it’s unclear what Crowder said in response.

After the game, KD was asked about the exchange by members of the press. In response, he questioned who the reporter was talking about, while pretending he didn’t know who Crowder was.

“Who? Who? I ain’t even heard a word from dog.”

“He went and joined them” – Looking back at the time Jae Crowder ripped Kevin Durant for joining the Golden State Warriors after Boston Celtics pitch

Way back in the summer of 2016, before Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors, Jae Crowder tried to recruit him to the Boston Celtics.

Crowder had been with the Celtics for a year-and-a-half, and in a 2016 interview with MassLive, Crowder explained that he had pitched Kevin Durant on joining the Boston Celtics.

As he revealed at the time, along with his pitch, he and the Celtics walked Durant through their scouting report of Golden State. They were showing the future Hall of Famer how the team was able to successfully slow down Golden State’s star duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

In response, KD went and joined the Warriors, who had just eliminated him and the OKC Thunder after a remarkable 3-1 series comeback.

As Crowder told MassLive, he was furious:

“We were the only team in the NBA to beat both (Cleveland and Golden State) on their home court. We told him that. We played him clips from both games and told him basically the scouting report of how we guarded Steph and Klay – our entire game plan, basically.

“That’s what made me mad. We (expletive) told him everything we do to beat these guys, and we beat them, and he went and joined them. Who the (expletive) thought he was going to Golden State, realistically? It was like a slap in the face for us, basically.”

While there’s no telling whether the comments are what set Durant off on Friday night, they provide backstory to the exchange.

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