Kevin Durant had a stellar first game in a Houston Rockets uniform, even though it was just a preseason game against the Utah Jazz. He finished the game with 20 points, two rebounds, and one assist as the Rockets came out on top 140-127. But one memorable incident for him was when the Jazz rookie Ace Bailey apparently tried to trash-talk him, and his response went viral on social media.
“You’re new here. You’re brand new here, boy. Why is your a** talking? … sit your a** down,” Durant reportedly said as per several social media sources.
KD to Ace Bailey:
“You’re new here. You brand new here boy. Why yo a** talkin… sit your a** down.”
(h/t @Fullcourtpass) pic.twitter.com/KPpoFgCqDn
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 9, 2025
Bailey was having a good game himself, but messing with superstars as a rookie might not be the best route for him. He dropped 25 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block in the loss. Had he not poked the bear with Durant, the media could have seen the narrative differently. But now he just looks like a rookie who tried to rattle the veterans and failed.
Apparently, the Jazz’s coaching staff uses a lot of footage from Kevin Durant’s rookie season to work on coaching strategy for Ace Bailey. According to their head coach, Will Hardy, they see a lot of similarity between the two players.
“With guys like Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum, we all kind of know what that looks like now. That can be distracting. So it was really good for me to go back and watch a lot of that film to see what the beginning of that journey looked like,” said Hardy during the pre-game press conference with the Jazz media. He essentially specified that while the franchise is not trying to put any pressure or overreact to developments on Ace Bailey, they use inspiration from tapes of players like Durant and Tatum to envision what his future role might look like.
The Rockets are now undefeated in the preseason run during their first two games, as Durant notched his first preseason win in Houston. Durant will almost definitely address this viral moment with Ace Bailey if he speaks to the media after the game. It will be interesting to see what really went down behind this moment and what he really felt about Ace Bailey’s game.
