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Bruce Brown and Kevin Durant probably won’t be sending each other Christmas cards.
They played together in Brooklyn for two years. They competed against each other in a playoff series in 2023, when the Nuggets eliminated the Suns in six games. Their relationship as former teammates has “been cool,” according to Brown. Until Dec. 20, 2025.
“I think it’s been cut slow now, after tonight,” Brown said Saturday. “Some words were said that’s a little disrespectful. I can’t wait to see him next time.”
After verbally sparring throughout a chippy NBA game — the Nuggets lost 115-101 to Durant’s Houston Rockets — they continued to throw jabs in their postgame interviews.
Brown told reporters that on separate occasions, Durant said something to him and to another Nuggets player that crossed a line.
“As a man,” Brown said, “there’s certain things you don’t say to another man.”
Durant agrees.
“I definitely wanted to cross the line tonight,” the two-time NBA Finals MVP said, smiling. “That’s basketball. That’s in between the lines. Ain’t no respect. Ain’t no love. Nothing. People don’t show love to me. They cross the line a lot with their physicality. It’s just part of the game. Some people can talk and play. Some people can’t. I had to learn how to talk and play as a player. So I think Bruce is probably learning the same thing.”
With 2:40 to go in the third quarter of a tight game between Western Conference title contenders, Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and made a floater. It cut Houston’s lead to 69-62 and prompted a timeout from Rockets coach Ime Udoka.
Brown immediately located Durant, who wasn’t involved in the play, and stared him down.
Both players declined to share the specifics of what Durant had said that offended Brown, but the Nuggets wing claimed Durant’s offensive comments had been ongoing “before and after” that moment.
“He said it before to someone else, and then he said it to me,” Brown said.
“Nothing that should be told to the media,” Durant added. “He knows. He understood. I understood. We know what that is. We don’t need to tell you about it.”
The Rockets pulled away for a 16-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Durant amassed 31 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win, shooting the 3-pointer at a 5-for-6 clip. Brown compiled 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for Denver.
“We’re coming in here and playing a championship organization with arguably, in my opinion, one of the top 10 players, five players that I’ve ever seen play basketball, you know?” Durant said, referring to Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. “That’s how much respect I’ve got for these dudes, that I want to get up and bring that energy. Bring that fight. It might go across the line. But that’s basketball sometimes. So Bruce will be all right.”
Durant continued to relish his role as the antagonist throughout the fourth quarter at Ball Arena. He and Tim Hardaway Jr. picked up matching technical fouls after Durant buried a three over the Nuggets guard. A few minutes later, Durant taunted Nuggets coach David Adelman when Adelman was ejected for arguing with the referees.
Then with about six minutes remaining, the eighth-leading scorer in NBA history made another 3-pointer, this time over Jamal Murray. It gave Houston a 98-81 lead. Durant pointed an imaginary gun in the direction of Murray and the crowd then danced down the court.
“Somebody in the crowd was talking crazy to me right before that,” he said. “So everybody enjoyed it. People in the stands enjoyed the game. Bruce and Tim Hardaway probably didn’t enjoy it. But I enjoy when we go back and forth. That’s basketball, you know what I’m saying? A lot of people say that’s missing from the game. When I do it, it’s a problem. But it was a fun game. Glad we got the win. I’m not celebrating like it’s the championship, but we lost two in a row (before Saturday). We wanted to win tonight.”
Adelman said he had no issue with how Durant made fun of him after the ejection. Jokic also weighed in on the chirping.
“They can do whatever,” he said. “I think some people like to do that. Some people don’t care. I think some people get their energy from that. So I’m OK. I don’t care.”
Durant has long held deep admiration for Jokic, but he also bickered with Nuggets fans on social media for being too devoted to him during the 2024 Paris Olympics. People from Denver who were rooting for Jokic’s Serbian national team to beat Team USA in the semifinals of the basketball competition, Durant asserted, were “lame.” No basketball player in history has won as many Olympic gold medals as Durant, who has four.
“A lot of people may disagree with me right now, but I feel like (Jokic and I) have a similar mentality with how we approach the work, just the game itself,” he said Saturday, smirking as if he recognized the comparison might irritate Nuggets fans. “And I can sense that from afar. So I always have respect for him. … But when we’re playing against each other, once again, we might cross the line.
“So if that offends you, that’s on you. Next game, I’m sure Bruce will be better from that. But I crossed the line tonight.”
When they were Brooklyn Nets teammates in 2022, Durant got annoyed at an unfiltered comment Brown made to the media about the Boston Celtics, saying that Brown’s blunt criticism gave Boston bulletin board material in a playoff series between the two teams. Brooklyn got swept.
Durant has since been traded twice, going to Phoenix and now Houston. Brown, who won an NBA championship in Denver, reunited with the Nuggets last offseason after two years away.
The Nuggets prevailed in overtime when they hosted Houston last Monday in another emotionally charged game, adding to the tension surrounding the Saturday rematch. Udoka was fined $25,000 by the NBA for his postgame comments about the refs after Monday’s contest, while Adelman also felt the whistle had disadvantaged his team. Jokic and backup big man Jonas Valanciunas both fouled out in the eventual win, leaving Adelman without a center at the end of overtime.
Denver still leads the season series 2-1 after the loss on Saturday. One more regular-season meeting remains on the schedule, but it’s not until March 11, 2026.
“Walking off the court, I was asking when we’re gonna play them again,” Brown said. “… I can’t wait.”
The night before emotions boiled over between him and Durant, Brown was taking in a Colorado Avalanche game at Ball Arena. A loyal supporter of Denver’s NHL team, he said his main takeaway was that “I wish there was fighting” in the NBA. “I wish we didn’t get a fine.”
Would Brown have dropped the gloves on Saturday with Durant if it was kosher?
“I would have thought about it,” he said.
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Bennett Durando
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