Kevin Durant returns from injury, Kevin Durant picks up where he left off, showing no signs of rust.
It’s a tale so old, you forget how remarkable it is that seemingly every time Durant steps back on the floor after an absence he doesn’t look gimpy or winded or out of place.
Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers was the latest example of his basketball majesty, continuing his torrid start to the season and helping the Phoenix Suns get back in the win column after a five-game losing streak.
Durant's 23 points were easy and smooth, effective and non-disruptive to the offensive flow. He could've scored 30 without blinking, but the 27-point win didn't call for it.
When he plays, the Suns are 9-1 this year and look every bit the contender nobody believed they would be this season. You can put Durant onto any team in the league and they're instantly better, without having to adjust scheme or gameplan — his basketball acumen allows him to blend into any system without him having to be the system, without him having to dominate the ball or attention.
And if his health holds up, the Suns could very well be the biggest party crashers in a crowded Western Conference this spring.
It’s early, and ensuring availability is no guarantee for any team in this NBA, particularly for the Suns, who have two stars in their mid-30s with Durant and Bradley Beal. But they looked dominant against a formidable Lakers team that had their number last year.
They waxed the Lakers by 25 in the second half, and while taking into account the Lakers have had problems with competing on defense against good competition (Orlando, Denver) over the last week, these are the games the Suns should win in order to establish hierarchy in the West.
Minnesota was a trendy pick to make the Finals after its surprising run to the West finals last year, buoyed by the Timberwolves’ sweep of Durant’s Suns in the first round, but they’re under .500 after losing to Houston — and out of the Play-In at the moment.
Dallas, even before Luka Dončić’s wrist injury cost him time, was struggling to find consistency. The Los Angeles Clippers, with no sign of Kawhi Leonard being anywhere near a practice court, sit in a top-six spot. And the second and third spots are occupied by Golden State and Houston — developments no one would’ve predicted a month ago.
Oklahoma City, like last year, sits atop the conference, but hasn’t proven it yet with a long playoff run. The Thunder still have youth on their side while teams like the Suns need near-perfect conditions to get through the treacherous West.
But let’s assume Durant has the health he had last season, when he played 75 games and debunked the whole injury-prone label he’s carried since his Achilles injury during the 2019 NBA Finals.
Let’s assume that, at 36 years old, he keeps up the same performance and efficiency of the other two graybeards the collective public gives earned grace to, LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Then there’s no reason to easily dismiss Durant or his team in the postseason. Who knows if this 10-game sample size is merely a matter of fresh legs to start the season as opposed to the fatigue that’s bound to set in, but it seems like a smart bet to believe Durant will land near 55 percent shooting, 44 percent from 3-point range, 27 points, six rebounds and three assists.
It falls in line with Durant’s production of 28.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists on 53/41/89 splits, and those aren’t his career numbers — those are his numbers post-Achilles, when he didn’t play again until after his 31st birthday.
We’ve become so accustomed to talking about other things with Durant — his supposed unhappiness, his wont to leave franchises, his leadership, his health. The bottom line is he’s been as reliable a performer when he’s been on the court no matter where he’s been.
The conversation around Durant has gone between wholly unfair and reasonable, but rarely is the focus on his play. Usually, that’s unassailable.
And these Suns aren’t a complete roster, they’re depending a lot on decision-making, and the dirty work of Jusuf Nurkić and Mason Plumlee as a backup, to get them through. That doesn’t always inspire a lot of confidence if one is picking them to improve on a 49-win season last year.
But it does feel like the most complete roster Durant has played on since leaving the Bay Area. That Brooklyn Nets team that looked like world-beaters in 2021 until Kyrie Irving and James Harden got hurt in the second round against the Milwaukee Bucks, leaving Durant alone to carry an undermanned roster? They would merely overwhelm you with talent and explosiveness, and we saw what happened when they lost their fastball.
This Suns team isn’t as explosive, not nearly, but with Durant settling in, it takes pressure away from Devin Booker, who had to carry the offense in Durant's absence and saw his efficiency decline with the added attention.
They’re both best when the ball swings to them as opposed to staring down five sets of eyes on defense, and having Mike Budenholzer as head coach and Tyus Jones as table-setting point guard takes a load of weight off them.
Durant is at his best when the game is simple, because he makes the game look easy better than anybody in the league — still, at his advanced age.
Budenholzer, to this point, realizes Durant doesn’t need the most complicated actions, but just enough movements where he can flow into a dribble and pull up, or catch and shoot. And Budenholzer has gotten all three scorers to buy into shooting more 3s to get along with the times of today’s game. Last year, the Suns were 25th in attempts despite being fifth in efficiency. This year, even with Durant’s absence, they’re sixth in attempts and bound to rise with their big three playing together more. Tuesday night was the Suns' 99th regular-season game since the Beal trade was made to bring all three together, and the 49th time they’ve been on the floor at the same time.
Perhaps it’s a fallacy to believe in the Suns, but in the absence of a Celtics-like team in the conference, one stands to believe with a healthy Durant they have as good of a shot as any at making a deep playoff run.