Charles Barkley sounds off on Kevin Durant’s NBA career and makes a comparison to his own journey in the league.
Kevin Durant is one of the most notable superstars who missed the 2025 NBA playoffs due to the Phoenix Suns‘ abysmal 2024-25 regular season.
Despite having a Big 3 of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, the Suns finished the season with an abysmal 36-46 record and clinched the 11th spot in the Western Conference.
Following this underwhelming season, many have started to question the Slim Reaper’s place in all-time NBA debate.
NBA legend Charles Barkley and Suns star Kevin Durant have shared a rocky relationship over the years. After all, Chuck has called out KD on multiple occasions and the Suns star hasn’t taken the criticism too well.
Barkley is back with another brutal call out directed at Durant as he claimed that the 2x NBA champion has ‘flamed out’ multiple times in the playoffs since leaving the Golden State Warriors.
“Other than the Warriors he hasn’t been successful anywhere else. I don’t hold that against him. But if he wants to be considered on that list, he’s not on that list.
“He’s a great great player but he’s not on that list in the GOAT conversation because he’s not, plain and simple,” Barkley said.
Barkley then criticized Durant’s tenure with the Suns, stating: “You actually flamed out in those other places, you got swept last year in the playoffs, you didn’t make the Play-In this year. So that’s those are just facts.”
Does it mean Barkley holds KD’s Warriors stint against him? The Hall of Famer denied that.
“I don’t hold not winning a championship against him, it’s a team game first and foremost, but you got to have some success.”
While Barkley is known for his brutal call outs, he has always been silenced due to retiring without winning an NBA Championship over a 16-year career in the league.
Despite that, Barkley compared his career to Durant’s and reiterated his point about how you cannot be unsuccessful in the NBA and be in contention for the GOAT debate.
“My team in Philadelphia, when I finally got out of there, I was like, ‘Yo, man, I got to get out of here. I want to be competitive,’” Barkley continued.
He concluded: “And in my first three years in Phoenix, we lost to Michael [Jordan], the championship, and then we lost to the Rockets, who won back to back championships. But you cannot be zero successful.”
Right now, there is a cloud of doubt hovering over Durant’s future with the Suns as multiple teams reportedly have interest in his services if the 36-year-old parts ways with the franchise this offseason.
