The Phoenix Suns are the fourth team Kevin Durant has played for in his NBA career. His third stop was with the Brooklyn Nets, who traded him to Phoenix ahead of the deadline last season. On Wednesday, he made his first trip back to Barclays Center as a visiting player.
Durant and the Suns were victorious, winning 136-120. He put forth an excellent performance, scoring a game-high 33 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists. Phoenix began to find their footing in January, going 11-5, moving up into sixth place in the Western Conference.
After the game, Durant was asked about his tenure in Brooklyn and if things could have played out differently with a few breaks, such as better health. But, it wasn’t something he was willing to entertain and talk about.
“No. I mean, that’s just a pointless exercise , in my opinion, to think about what could have been. What happened. That’s what I thought about: what actually happened. The reality of it.
“We didn’t have enough time together. That’s just it,” he continued. “Guys wanted to go their separate ways. We tried our hardest to, you know, salvage everything and everything together. We had three or four different teams [from] when I signed here until when I left. But at the end of the day, I enjoyed coming to work, playing for, being a part of this community and playing, representing Brooklyn; regardless of what went on, what was said or how I felt, I still came to work.”
While Durant didn’t want to talk about it, it is something people around the NBA certainly wonder about. Despite Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, his new star teammates, all dealing with injuries this season, Wednesday was the 17th game that the trio played together.
During Durant’s entire tenure with James Harden and Kyrie Irving, they played only 16 times together. That group won only one playoff series, having arguably the most disappointing team up in NBA history.
As a result, the Nets are now stuck in NBA purgatory. They aren’t good enough to seriously contend in the playoffs but nowhere near bad enough to realistically expect to land a top pick in the draft.
But, some useful pieces on the roster could be part of their next core going forward. Mikal Bridges, who was acquired as part of the package for Durant, is one piece. Another is Cam Thomas, who received some praise from Durant after the game.
“He’s only going to get better. What is he only 22 years old? Around the league, it’s already on the scouting report that he’s one of the hardest people to guard in the league,” Durant said.
Thomas is an explosive scorer for the Nets. Last season after the trades, he showcased that with some big scoring nights, including a stretch he scored 43+ points in three straight games.
This season, as a regular part of the rotation, he is averaging 21.2 points per game. He has surpassed the 40-point plateau twice and scored 30+ points another six times. While other parts of his game still need to be developed, Thomas is someone that the Nets can count on for instant offense whenever he is on the court.