PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns were not fans of an odd quirk in their regular season schedule when they first saw it over the summer, a five-day break without games in late November.
Teams typically want to keep things rolling, both in a rhythm sense and a conditioning sense. But they benefitted from it in a major way when it comes to the rest and recovery, namely for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, who both return on Tuesday from calf strains to take on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Durant missed seven games after he felt “a little” bit of something off in his left calf going for a rebound in a Nov. 8 win over the Dallas Mavericks, noting he “knew something was there.” Phoenix went 1-6 without him, particularly hampered by Beal joining Durant for the last five contests.
Durant is averaging 27.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.4 blocks per game, with a true shooting percentage of 67%, 5% above his career average and a number that would be the second-best mark of his career. On top of that, he was dominating in crunch time to help the Suns win close games and his defensive play was at its best since he arrived in Phoenix nearly two years ago. If there is such a thing as an “MVP conversation” two weeks into the season, he was in it.
The Suns will be a completely different unit with him back in the fold. Obviously.
“Put in a lot of work, stacked some good days up and was able to get back on the court,” Durant said before Tuesday’s fixture. “That Friday break definitely helped as well, so grateful for that. Looking forward to getting back out there.”
Durant strained the same calf in late June just prior to Team USA training camp in Las Vegas ahead of the Paris Olympics. He said this was not as severe of an injury, one he missed a month for.
That and Durant’s high workload at the age of 36 would make it reasonable to have some worry about the situation. He was second in the league in minutes per game at the time of his injury, 38.8.
Durant gave his perspective on how aware he is of his minutes total, if at all.
“I just try to play the game,” Durant said. “I love how our coach subs the game, he doesn’t try to predetermine his rotations. If we handle games early, I probably won’t play a lot of minutes. If we’re in a tight game, then expect me to be out there on the floor.”
Head coach Mike Budenholzer hasn’t played someone over 35 minutes per game across his first 10 NBA seasons coaching, but in his 11th, he’s got two guys that have reached that threshold. Beal’s right on the doorstep at 34.8 too.
Durant was asked if he and Budenholzer have talked much about what his minutes are at.
“We talked about minutes this summer, but it was just that conversation I just had — whatever the game needs, I’m ready for it and (to) be a resource however you need me to be,” Durant said. “I tend to leave that up to the coaches.”
So would he be cool with sitting in the low 30s?
“No, not really. I want to play 48 minutes tonight,” Durant said. “I’ve been saying that for the last 10 years. But I feel like I’m coachable and I’ll do whatever coach needs me to do. But I want him to know in the back of his mind that I’m down to play 48 minutes. Whatever he decides for me, I’m willing to do it all.”
He didn’t remember off the top of his head when he last did that, joking that he got close earlier in the year when he hit 44 in the season opener, an overtime victory.
To feed curious minds (like my own), he’s never played every second in a regular season game. For the playoffs? Four times, including a Game 5 second-round win in 2021 against the Milwaukee Bucks with the Brooklyn Nets and Game 7 of that same series (!) that went to overtime (!!) when he clocked 53 minutes (!!!), the infamous “Toe On The Line Game.” The career high is 57, a triple-OT thriller in Game 4 of a 2011 second-round contest with the “Grit N’ Grind” Memphis Grizzlies.
Point being, he wants to be out there!
“I’m 36,” Durant said with a smile. “I don’t know how much time I got left, so I want to be out there as much as I can.”
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