[Guillory] Several league sources with close ties to Rockets players indicated the social media situation was a significant distraction, one that was never truly resolved internally… It is unclear whether Durant ever clarified to his teammates if the account belonged to him.
Less than a month later, amid a stretch in which the Rockets lost seven of nine games entering the All-Star break, allegations surfaced that Durant had criticized teammates — including sharp jabs at Alperen Şengün and Jabari Smith Jr. — while using a burner account on X.
Several league sources with close ties to Rockets players indicated the social media situation was a significant distraction, one that was never truly resolved internally. Durant never discussed the matter in any detail publicly, saying only that he was “not here to get into Twitter nonsense.” Privately, league sources said his teammates agreed to keep the matter in-house while focusing on basketball. It is unclear whether Durant ever clarified to his teammates if the account belonged to him.
The knee injury that kept Durant out of Game 1 against the Lakers was a fluke accident, with one of the team’s two-way players bumping knees with him in practice as they both went for a loose ball. Durant returned in Game 2 but suffered a sprained right ankle in the second half of that loss that ultimately forced him to miss the remainder of the series.