Thinking Back on the Suns’ Audacious Trade for Kevin…
The Phoenix Suns shocked the basketball world early on February 9th when NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowksi revealed that Kevin Durant will be moving to the Valley. This news ended a protracted story that started in late June 2022, when many people thought the deal was off.
With the acquisition, the Suns gained access to one of the greatest scorers and players in league history—some could even contend that Durant is the greatest player to have ever been acquired by a franchise based in Arizona.
In this post, we’ll examine three distinct time periods: the deal itself, the Suns’ season finale, and the present.
As previously stated, the expectation was that a possible trade for Durant would, at most, be discussed during the offseason. Few people anticipated the midseason deal, and its completion left the Valley with mixed emotions.
On the one hand, the combination of Durant and Devin Booker formed the strongest team in the NBA, offering the Suns a formidable opponent.
On the other hand, James Jones, together with the adored Mikal Bridges, gave up a king’s ransom to make it happen. There were still hopes for a championship, but it was hard to see a club this big moving so quickly to achieve such a goal.
At his debut news conference at Footprint Center, hundreds of fans showed out to demonstrate how warmly they received Durant. During the second half of the season, the number 35 jersey sold the sixth most. The Suns had not been this optimistic since the summer of 1992, when they acquired Charles Barkley.
For the second consecutive season, the Suns lost badly in an elimination game; this time, it was against the Denver Nuggets, who went on to win the league. Phoenix was the only club to steal multiple games from Denver, even with the disappointing loss.
Even though Durant’s efficiency was lower in the series than it was during the regular season, he was still very important in helping Phoenix get into a situation where they might even force a Game 7 against the Nuggets. In addition, the six-game series that the Suns forced was against the undisputed best player in the world, Nikola Jokic, who had an incredibly well-rounded supporting cast surrounding him, whereas Durant just faced Booker and a few mediocre role players.
