Kevin Durant Cites Devin Booker, Phoenix Fans As Reasons For Suns Move

The NBA landscape is still reeling from the fact that Kevin Durant has actually made his way to the Phoenix Suns.

Media members were able to get his thought process on why he was adamant to be traded to The Valley.

"You see the growth in his team when Monty took over, when James [Jones] came here. I see the culture started to change the way they played on the floor, the energy they play with started to change and I always love playing here in Phoenix," Durant said during the livestreamed press conference.

"The fans always show love to just good basketball in general. They always cheer their [team] on, but they show love to the opposing team as well so, I knew this would be a great place to play and a great place to continue to get better as a player. "

Durant heading to Phoenix ahead of the February 9 trade deadline was a massive shock throughout the NBA as there were no leaks that happened during the process.

Popular insiders like Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN seemingly had no clue about the ongoing talks involving Durant, the Suns front office and the Brooklyn Nets' upper management–only revealing the deal when it was finalized.

The Suns did have to part ways with fan-favorites like Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson in order to get Durant and while seeing them in a Nets jersey pains a lot of them who have grown attached to "The Twins," many have continued to cheer them on in Brooklyn.

Durant's mere presence in Phoenix ahead of their victory over the Sacramento Kings recently seemed to have lit a fire underneath all of them as he was seen giving tips to franchise cornerstones Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, among many others, during timeouts.

The two-time NBA champion also acknowledged that part of his reasons for joining the Suns is Booker and had high praise for his game.

"He has a pure game. He can score from every area of the floor with efficiency. He's athletic, but he don't really show it a lot... He's just such a quiet, efficient scorer and he goes about his business on and off the court in just a mature manner. And I just wanted to be a part of it," Durant stated.

"I wanted to be part of his journey and see how good he can get from here. He's just one of those players that I really admire."

One of the NBA's greatest scorers and Booker had teamed up together at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and it appears to have been the catalyst for Durant to consider moving to Phoenix.

Everything appears to be smooth-sailing and calm waters for the Suns moving forward and only time will tell whether trading for "KD" finally brings them home the Larry O'Brien trophy after failing to do so after having three attempts at doing so.