Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images Kevin Wayne Durant, at 35 years old, is putting together and All-NBA worthy season for the Suns. With 15 games remaining in the Phoenix Suns’ regular season, the team and the fan base are focusing their attention on the future. The postseason begins in just over a month. That’s right. the regular season is “winding down”. The expectations entering the season haven’t lived up to the hype, at least thus far. Mat Ishbia spent the money but hasn’t equated to a satisfactory amount of tick marks in the win column. It isn’t the regular season that we are concerned about, however. It is the postseason where legends are made. As we’re so intensely focused on the journey that lies ahead, I find myself stopping to take a break to take a look at the overall landscape. Maybe it’s the mild Phoenix temperatures right now as I sit outside to write this, but I’m stopping to smell the proverbial roses. I’m reflecting on the season that was, even as we are fighting for playoff positioning. What is the number one thing that stands out to me above all else? The Phoenix Suns are receiving an all-time great season from an all-time great player. Kevin Durant came to Phoenix last February and with him came one of the most elite shot makers this game has ever seen. It didn’t work out in the 2023 playoffs, partially because the team traded all of their wing depth to roster Durant. That didn’t take away from his greatness as he went 8-0 in the regular season with the Suns and averaged 29 points 8.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists on 47.8/33.3/91.7 splits. As we entered the 2023-24 season, with Bradley Beal added to create the first non-organic, Big Three in the history of the franchise, we expected great things. Kevin Durant has consistently delivered on those expectations. It has been a joy to watch him play. I know that the fanbase can become frustrated at times, especially at the end of close games in which Durant runs isolation sets. But that’s the game of basketball. Your best players are going to run isolation in the final minutes as that is your best chance of scoring a basket. I know that ball movement creates fluidity and open shots, but how frustrated would you be if the Suns lost because Grayson Allen missed a three-pointer at a key part of the game? I don’t recall Michael Jordan passing the ball in the last five minutes of basketball games, do you? So while the fan base bitches and moans about Durant’s iso-ball at the end of games, I don’t know if there’s been enough credit given to how amazing his season has been. It is dynamic. It is All-NBA worthy. It is one of the best regular season performances we have ever witnessed in Suns’ history. It brings me back to the days when Randy Johnson was pitching at Bank One Ballpark. For four consecutive seasons, the Big Unit mowed down batter after batter. He was untouchable. It was greatness personified every fifth day on the mound. That is Kevin Durant. Every time Phoenix needs a bucket or a big shot, it feels as if KD has delivered. He has been the one constant out of the Big Three. Of the Suns’ 65 games, Durant has played in 58. And what he has put together at 35 years old is one of his best seasons. Ever. Where does he stand in personal statistics relative to other KD seasons? Note that this is his 15th season: - 28.1 points (7th)
- 52.6 FG% (4th)
- 42.0 3PT% (3rd)
- 5.4 assists (6th)
- 1.2 blocks (6th)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/tkC42vd9hSQ?rel=0
He has had a couple of rough shooting nights since, but that is clearly the exception, not the rule. You then zoom out on the history of the Suns franchise. If the season were to end today, Durant would hold the single-season scoring average title, surpassing Tom Chambers’ 27.2 in 1989-90 (Note that Devin Booker’s season last year didn’t qualify because he didn’t play enough games, but this season he is at 27.5 points). Yes, the postseason still lies ahead. I know that for many, that is where you will ultimately judge this season for Kevin Durant, especially as to where he relates amongst the pantheon of all-time great players. I am in that group as well. For a city that has never experienced the joys of an NBA title, that is what matters. In the same breath, there is nothing wrong in appreciating how fantastic he has been this regular season. He has been the offensively stabilizing force the team has needed. He has been the run-stopper, the big shot maker, and the best defender, the most consistent superstar on this team. As Zach Bryan says in my favorite song by the alt-country Oklahoman, Come as You Are, “How am I supposed to know the good times that I’m in if the good is only seen when I’m lookin’ back at them”. These are the good times and this is a great season.
Source: https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... vin-durant