Kevin Durant has angry confrontation with two drunken Mavericks fans after they yelled 'b****' as he ran onto the court in Dallas... but two-time NBA champion tells security guards NOT to kick them out

Kevin Durant was involved in a heated exchange with two drunken Dallas Mavericks fans on Thursday night after they yelled 'b****' as he ran onto the court.

Durant, a two-time NBA champion and former MVP, was in Texas with his Phoenix Suns team as the basketball season resumed following the All-Star break.

With the arena largely empty as the players came out to warm up, two fans who were sat a few rows from courtside screamed out at Durant.

Video of the incident clearly shows them shouting 'b****' at the former Golden State Warriors star as he ran onto the court.

Durant immediately turned around to confront the man and woman, who were both holding beers, and said 'what?'.

Kevin Durant was involved in a heated exchange with two drunken Dallas Mavericks fans

Security were going to kick them out before Durant came back over and said they could stay

He then walked over to them before the female fan, with a huge smile on her face, put her hand out for Durant to shake as though nothing had happened.

While it's impossible to hear what Durant says to the couple, he refused to acknowledge her hand and was rightly angered by their comments.

The man, also smiling, quickly realized Durant was annoyed and tried to apologize to diffuse the situation.

Clearly not expecting Durant to respond to their taunts, the embarrassed couple tried to downplay their jeers and began to tell him a story about a dead relative and the man's sports podcast.

Durant, clearly not impressed, ended the conversation and walked back towards his teammates who were warming up.

Security appeared to want to kick the pair out of the American Airlines Center but Durant returned and told them to let them stay. 

Durant and the Phoenix Suns took on the Mavericks as the season resumed after All-Star break

It proved to be a miserable night all around for Durant as the Mavericks claims a 123-113 win on Thursday night.

Luka Doncic scored 41 points and Kyrie Irving added 29 as Dallas extended their winning streak to seven games.

Dallas pulled even with Phoenix in the standings at 33-23 and took the head-to-head tiebreaker with a 2-1 record in a pairing of teams battling for a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.

Doncic had 11 assists and nine rebounds matched against fellow All-Stars Devin Booker, who scored 35 points, and Durant, who had 23 on an ordinary shooting night for the 14-time All-Star. The Suns had won five of six before the break.

Dallas extended its longest winning streak of the season in the first visit from new majority owner Miriam Adelson. 

The widow of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson was sitting courtside. Her company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., finalized the deal with Mark Cuban in December.