Kevin Durant returns from injury and benefits from Suns’ break

On By Littum

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns weren’t fans of an odd quirk in their regular-season schedule when they first saw it over the summer, a five-day hiatus without a game in late November.

Teams will typically keep things moving, both in a rhythmic sense and a conditioning sense. But they benefited greatly when it comes to rest and recovery, namely for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, who both return Tuesday from calf strains to take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Durant missed seven games after feeling “a little bit” of something off in his left calf en route to a rebound in a Nov. 8 win over the Dallas Mavericks, noting that he “knew something was there.” Phoenix went 1-6 without him, especially hampered by Beal joining Durant in 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 character in his career. On top of that, he was dominant in crunch time to help the Suns win close games and his defensive play was the 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, put up some good days and was able to get back on the court,” Durant said before Tuesday’s game. “That Friday break definitely helped too, so thankful for that. Looking forward to getting out there again.”

Durant strained the same calf in late June just before Team USA training camp in Las Vegas ahead of the Paris Olympics. He said this was not such a serious injury, one that he missed a month due to.

That and Durant’s heavy workload at age 36 would make it reasonable to worry about the situation. He was second in the league in minutes per game. match 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’m just trying to play the game,” Durant said. “I love how our coach subordinates 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 close game, expect me to be out there on the floor.”

Head coach Mike Budenholzer has not played anyone over 35 minutes per game. game across his first 10 NBA seasons as a coach, but in his 11th, he has two guys who have reached that threshold. Beal is right at the door at 34.8 as well.

Durant was asked if he and Budenholzer have talked much about what his minutes are on.

“We talked about minutes this summer, but that was just the conversation I just had — whatever the game needs, I’m ready for it and (to) be a resource that you need me to be,” Durant said. “I usually 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 what the coach needs me to do. But I want him to know in the back of his mind that I have to play 48 minutes. Whatever he decides for me, I am willing to do it all.”

He couldn’t remember off the top of his head the last time he did that and joked that he came close earlier this year when he hit 44 in the season opener, an overtime victory.

To feed curious minds (like my own), he has never played every second of a regular season game. For the playoffs? Four times, including a second-round Game 5 win in 2021 against the Milwaukee Bucks with the Brooklyn Nets and Game 7 of the same series (!) that went to overtime (!!) when he got 53 minutes (!!!), the infamous “Toe On The Line Game.” Career high 57, a triple OT thriller in Game 4 of a 2011 second-round contest with the “Grit N’ Grind” Memphis Grizzlies.

The point is, he wants to be out there!

“I’m 36,” Durant said with a smile. “I don’t know how much time I have left, so I want to be out there as much as I can.”