DALLAS, TX - MARCH 5: Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns slam dunks against the Dallas Mavericks in the second half at American Airlines Center on March 5, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. The Suns won 130-126. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant exited Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets with a left ankle sprain. And that may be the end of the season for the Suns.
They have seven games left to play. But the most recent loss to the Rockets dropped the Suns to 35-40, 1.5 games behind the Sacramento Kings for tenth place in the West and facing down the hardest remaining schedule in the NBA. They’ll have to claw for any amount of leverage in order to make the play-in tournament, and they’ll have to do that without Durant (without whom they’re 2-11 this season).
Durant, 36, is still putting up good numbers late in his career; he’s averaging 26.6 points, good for sixth in the league, as well as 6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. He’s a 15-time All-Star. And while his co-star Devin Booker is averaging 25.3 points as well, he’ll have to step up in a big way to make up for Durant’s offensive production.
The Suns will kick off the last stretch of the season with a road trip against the 40-34 Milwaukee Bucks, the 56-19 Boston Celtics, and the 47-27 New York Knicks, so their 27th-ranked defense will have its hands full.
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While making any noise in the playoffs was a long shot from the beginning, this season may herald the end of the Suns’ current era. After going all in on Durant, Booker and Bradley Beal a few years ago, the Suns don’t own any of their first-round picks between now and 2031 – and have nothing to show for it but a streak of four winning seasons that’s looking increasingly endangered.
“You have to find a way to make things happen on the defensive end. You have to go and make plays offensively and desperation and all those things,” said Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer after the 39-point loss to Houston. “They’re important, but you’ve got to go play. And we’ve got to play better.”
With Durant gone, Budenholzer’s resolution to “play better” is even more vital, but sounds more like a prayer than anything. If the Suns make the play-in tournament, it will be by a miracle.
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