What happened in Rockets' tense team meeting after Kevin Durant burner leak? Details emerge after first-round exit

The Houston Rockets are going home. The Los Angeles Lakers closed out the first-round series Friday night with a convincing 98-78 road victory in Game 6, ending the Rockets' season and sending LeBron James and company to the second round.

The loss is particularly embarrassing due to the absence of the Rockets' best player at a crucial moment. Kevin Durant played in only one of the six games. He sat out Game 1 with a bruised right knee, returned to score 23 points in Game 2, and then suffered a left ankle sprain and bone bruise that sidelined him for the rest of the series.

What makes this exit particularly difficult to digest is the bottom line. Last year, the Rockets posted the same 52-30 regular-season record but their season ended in the first round after a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Houston traded Jalen Green and a haul of picks to Phoenix for a two-time champion specifically to break this cycle, but they ended up right back where they started.

KD's burner-account drama, which exploded during the 2026 All-Star break when alleged screenshots surfaced showing him criticizing teammates, might explain why the addition didn't go as planned. However, nobody knew what happened inside the building after those screenshots leaked until now.

Inside the Rockets' tense team meeting 

During the February All-Star break, messages from an alleged burner account, '@gethigher77,' leaked online, criticizing teammates Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr., along with former teammates from Durant's Warriors days. At practice, Durant brushed it off as 'Twitter nonsense."

Behind closed doors, it was more serious. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that the Rockets held a player-only meeting to address the tension and move forward.

"And look, that was, there was a discussion had among the players and they moved on from it, is what I was told," MacMahon said. "But like that's part of the KD when I say there's been an emotional roller coaster with KD this season. That's obviously a big part of it."

They did so publicly, but the locker room chemistry remained a question mark. Without the 37-year-old, Houston's young core -- Sengun, Smith, Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, and Tari Eason -- found their rhythm. They won two elimination games without him, making people wonder if Durant actually fits with this group.

That dynamic, and what it means for Houston's roster construction this offseason, is now a million-dollar question heading into the summer.

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