A nervous Kevin Durant debuts for Phoenix in Charlotte. It didn’t go well for Hornets
Kevin Durant is 34 years old now, and he’s been in the NBA since he was 19. There aren’t a lot of nerves for him before games anymore, since he’s done just about everything there is to do in basketball.
Yet Durant said he was nervous in Charlotte on Wednesday night, as he made his debut for the Phoenix Suns. Durant has played in more than 1,100 NBA games when you count the playoffs, but this was his very first for the Suns, who traded for him three weeks ago with an eye on winning an NBA title immediately.
And the early returns were good, as Durant scored 23 points in 27 minutes and Phoenix whipped the Hornets, 105-91, before a sellout crowd of 19,137 fans at the Spectrum Center.
Durant said he settled down after his second shot. He rushed a jumper on Phoenix’s first possession. “I think I shot it just to shoot it,” he said, “since I hadn’t shot in a while.”
Then Durant quickly found his rhythm. A driving layup and a 3-pointer got him going and before long he was 10-for-15 on the night (he said he should have made “about four more shots”). Durant added six rebounds, two blocks and two assists on a productive evening in a uniform he admitted didn’t yet feel “normal.”
“New environment, new situation, new teammates,” Durant said in explanation for his early jitters. “Still, I’ve got to prove myself to my teammates and my coaches every day, no matter what I’ve done.”
The game looked like a mismatch on paper, with Phoenix (34-29) starting its new super-team that includes Durant, Chris Paul and Devin Booker in the starting lineup. Charlotte, meanwhile, was without its star point guard LaMelo Ball, who fractured his ankle Monday night and had season-ending surgery.
And the paper didn’t lie. It was a mismatch, as Charlotte (20-44) never led and trailed for most of the game by somewhere between 10-20 points. The Hornets had been on a rare five-game win streak coming in, but you wouldn’t have known it from this one.
The Suns had been in Charlotte for several days on a rare break in the NBA schedule, long enough for Durant to actually take in a high school playoff game in Charlotte on Tuesday night. He went to watch Myers Park play Charlotte Catholic thanks to a connection with a former teammate.
“Nazr Mohammed — I played with him at Oklahoma City for a few years,” Durant said of Mohammed, who later played for Charlotte as well. “His son Sir starts here at Myers Park. It was a big game, so I was glad I could catch it.”
Durant hadn’t played an NBA game since Jan. 8th, when he sustained a knee injury while a member of the Brooklyn Nets. He was on a minutes restriction Wednesday and will continue to be for at least another week, Phoenix coach Monty Williams said.
“He was just as efficient as he’s always been,” Williams said of Durant.
Phoenix was led by Booker, who had 37 points and seven assists. Paul, meanwhile, had an off-game shooting (two points) but contributed 11 assists.
Although Durant made the game look easy many times, as he always does, there were a few hiccups. He once had a baseline jumper blocked by Hornets guard Dennis Smith Jr., who is eight inches shorter than Durant. And another time he made a business decision not to chase a loose ball 40 feet down the floor, instead letting it go out of bounds.
But generally, KD was who KD mostly always is, rising up above everyone and knocking down jumpers with the sort of effortless grace he’s had his whole career.
“I kind of understand what I need to do to be the best version of me and then just go out there with a free and clear mind,” Durant said. “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of moving parts around this. But it’s still basketball.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 11:08 PM.
