Speaking on Friday to reporters, including Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, Suns star Kevin Durant was asked about the team’s roster-building philosophy under new team owner Mat Ishbia. A series of aggressive roster moves since Ishbia’s arrival, starting with the acquisition of Durant in 2023, has left Phoenix with few draft assets and a limited ability to seek out additional upgrades, but the veteran forward lauded the team’s owner for his aggressiveness and willingness to spend big.
“I appreciate people that want to put in the work to try to get on that road to a championship level,” Durant said. “It’s hard. As we’ve seen, it’s tough, but just putting yourself in a position to try to do something. A lot people don’t even try to do stuff out here to be great. So I can appreciate somebody like Mat and the rest of the staff and the whole organization trying to put the players in successful positions to see what it’s like to go on the road to win a championship. Not a lot of franchises do that for their players.”
Durant also addressed teammate Bradley Beal‘s recent move to the bench, as Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports relays (Twitter video link). Durant noted that Beal’s playing time as a sixth man (31.3 MPG) is similar to what he was seeing as a starter (33.4 MPG) and suggested that the new role should give him more scoring opportunities.
“I feel like he’s just comfortable and understanding where his shot’s gonna come from,” Durant said of Beal, who has a pair of 25-point outings in his first three games as a reserve.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard has rejoined the team after taking a brief leave of absence to be with family affected by the Los Angeles wildfires, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Leonard would have been available to play on Saturday vs. Charlotte, per Murray, but that game has been postponed, so the Clippers won’t be back in action until at least Monday.
- In a pair of stories for The Sacramento Bee, Jason Anderson explores why the Kings‘ fortunes have changed as of late under new head coach Doug Christie and Chris Biderman recaps the team’s latest impressive victory, a convincing road win over the defending champion Celtics that included a franchise-record 28 rebounds from center Domantas Sabonis. Sacramento is now back to .500 after falling to 13-19 on December 28, a day after Mike Brown‘s dismissal.
- Warriors guard Gary Payton II (calf strain) has a chance to play on Monday for the first time since Christmas Day, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters after Friday’s loss to Indiana (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN). However, Kerr isn’t sure whether Brandin Podziemski (right abdominal injury management) or Andrew Wiggins (personal reasons) will be available for that game in Toronto.
- As for Stephen Curry (bilateral knee injury management) and Draymond Green (back soreness), it sounds like the two veteran Warriors will be able to return on Monday, but Kerr cautioned that the team will continue to manage both players’ health, adding that Curry has had some fluid build-up in the knee (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
Personal Reasons???
Yes his entire neighborhood was evacuated while most of the houses burned down. Like mine did
Wishing you the best tuck. My deepest sympathy to you and all those affected.
It seems that you are safe since you are commenting here and that is at least some good news. Be well and stay safe.
Fluid on the knee for Curry? That is a really bad sign. He is definitely going to struggle the rest of the way.
Ouch. Fluid on the knee is definitely bad news, especially given Steph is already suffering from painful tendonitis. Doc will likely advise more downtime.
I wonder how much the prognosis for Curry’s health might be factoring into GSW’s trade thinking? If the prognosis for this season is bad (say, he needs to rest his knee for 3 weeks), then which of the considered feals would still make sense?
Another possibility is that Steph’s ever-worsening availability changes GSW’s strategic long-term thinking. The idea of Steph being healthy enough to anchor a contender may seem a bridge too far.
If Curry knee that bad might be time to shut him down for a while and trade off pieces for draft picks they don’t need.
Yeah it’s better to have Steph take as much time and even more to make sure he is healthy, that might cost an all nba spot but who cares, if he doesnt treat this the appropiate way this could derail the rest of his career.
KD is so right, there should be many more owners like Ishbia in the league.
The point of ownership is trying to win championships not making money, most owners are billionaires, so they can make money elsewhere and spend it on their franchises, and losing money building a contender shouldn’t be a problem, but what all owners try to do.
Sure why would a 36 year old player care if his 5th team guts its future
tuck, you got it. KD knows he’s used up all his malcontent credits at OKC, GSW, and BKN. He’s determined to be a good citizen for the duration.
Ishbia’s winning aspirations may be admirable, but his moves have been disastrous. He mortgaged the future for a failed present. Now, the descent begins.
Next up, the NBA repeater tax . The Suns’ payroll and roster will be cut back this summer to comply. It doesn’t matter how personally wealthy Ishbia is. As with the Warriors and Clippers, an owners’ deep pockets can’t solve the problem.
El Don The NBA doesn’t work that way. It’s set up so that all teams have a chance and owners can’t buy championships anymore.
Ishbia has a big ego and thought he was smarter than all the other owners. He made a couple of stupid deals that deatroyed his team. NEVER trade away 6 years of draft capital. NEVER acquire a 4 year max with a no trade clause.
Not all billionaire owners are stupid though. The smart ones are happy to take Ishbia’s money and draft picks. Jimmy Butler wants to go to Phoenix because he knows Ishbia will overpay him.
Salary cap is there to be broken & parity in the league comes from everyone trying to stretch themselves to the max to win, not by living it down within the limits of the cap and raking millions in their pockets. Sports teams ain’t about making money, they are about spending money to win, so only the teams willing to spend the most deserve to win, as simple as.
Equality is a very communist idea, not really fitting with the American way of life, right?
Not all the teams should have a god-given right to win, they have to go for it.
America was founded as a Communist country? Did any ever tell Karl Marx. It probably would have news to him.
Only teams that spend money deserve to win? Tell that to a Yankees fan.
El Don You obviously know nothing about professional sports these days. It’s big business like any other big business. Most NBA teams are worth more than 5 billion dollars. 95 percent of pro sports teams are profitable.
There are no billionaires that run businesses to lose money. That’s one reason they are billionaires.
You are confused about equality. All pro sports have rules to make sure the teams from the smallest cities can compete. That’s because all the teams know a league can only succeed if all games are competitive. It has nothing to do with communism.
“All pro sports have rules to make sure the teams from the smallest cities can compete”
MLB has entered the chat
The suns have no future. Booker will be traded this summer.
The suns future aint bright lol so ironic you could flatten your close
There’s not a chance you actually believe that
The Warriors are so cooked. Turn, turn, turn.