Bradley Beal has rarely seen a superstar athlete carry himself in the manner Kevin Durant does.
“He’s very down to earth,” Beal said. “He doesn’t think of himself higher, above anybody else. He could be an (expletive). He could be, ‘I’m year 17 in, I got two rings, MVP.’ He could be like that if he wanted to, but he’s not. I think that separates him from a lot of guys.”
That’s just the way Durant was brought up in the game.
“My parents, my coaches, they always instilled that it’s bigger than me,” Durant said. “Always. It’s that simple. I know my part and if I don’t to my part, I know how important I am to the whole equation, but we’re all important.”
Durant unquestionably is one of the best to ever play the game. He has an evolutionary skill set of being essentially a 7-footer with unlimited scoring ability on all three levels, but the two-time Finals MVP has been highly scrutinized for changing teams over the course of his 17 NBA seasons.
He’s been called sensitive and his leadership has been questioned, but Durant is not only having an MVP caliber season at age 35 in his first full season with the Phoenix Suns (23-18), the 13-time All-Star has impressed his teammates on and off the court.
“He’s definitely one of the reasons I’m here,” Suns guard Eric Gordon, who signed with Phoenix as a free agent in the offseason.
Durant: ‘Prove to them I’m trustworthy’
Durant addressed several topics in a recent one-on-one sitdown with The Republic, starting with why he felt the need to say, in a recent interview with Fox Sports, that he doesn’t want to get traded. That was in response to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting on Christmas he’s frustrated partly due to Beal missing several stretches with back issues and an ankle sprain this season.
It was more than just about clearing the air. It was meant to assure the Valley he’s all good here.
“Suns fans, in particular, really believed Woj when he said that,” Durant told The Republic. “I got my ear on the pulse. When I come to these new teams, they don’t trust me, for one. I got to prove to them every day that I’m a trustworthy soldier for the team. I’ve moved around so many times. I understand the fans don’t trust me or they’re on edge about me leaving potentially.”
Durant leaving Oklahoma City, Golden State and requesting a trade out of Brooklyn last summer gives critics clearance to judge even the slightest facial scowl on the court, but that’s been a part of Durant’s career.
His every move is dissected. All part of being a superstar but even more noticeable with Durant.
“Since I left OKC, it’s always been a ‘what if?’” Durant said in the one-on-one. He left the Thunder and joined Golden State, where he won back-to-back NBA championship (2017, 2018) and finals MVPs, but he drew major criticism for that decision because OKC had just blew a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference finals.
Mike Brown: ‘He knows what’s going on’
Durant’s latest move came right before last season’s trade deadline as Phoenix was one of his destination requests during the previous offseason.
The Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round picks and a pick swap to Brooklyn for Durant and T.J. Warren just hours after Mat Ishbia’s introductory press conference as new team owner at Footprint Center last February.
The blockbuster deal made Phoenix an immediate title contender, but the team fell short in losing to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in six games of the 2023 Western Conference semifinals.
Soon after being eliminated, the Suns fired Monty Williams and hired Frank Vogel, later traded Chris Paul in the Beal deal, moved Deandre Ayton right before training camp and signed several players on veteran minimums in creating this new-look roster.
Durant, Devin Booker, Josh Okogie, Damion Lee and Saban Lee are the only returnees from last season’s team.
The Suns have a Big 3, but Durant still commands the most attention from opposing teams.
“I love him, he’s one of the smartest guys I ever coached,” said Sacramento coach Mike Brown, who was an assistant at Golden State when Durant was there.
“He knows he’s smart and he knows what’s going on. He said, ‘What’s up with all these double teams?’ (in the second Suns-Kings matchup in Sacramento), I said, ‘KD, you know you can answer that question on your own. You sit down, we’ll double team one less guy.'”
Jordan Goodwin: ‘Call him if you need anything’
Durant’s leadership has always been a topic of conversation because he’s not considered the vocal type.
He admittedly would rather lead by example, but Durant has no problem addressing teammates.
“He’ll hold you accountable, a guy like me needed that,” Suns backup point guard Jordan Goodwin said. “Early on in the season, if I made a mistake or not aggressive, he’ll get on me and be like, ‘We need you to be aggressive. We need you to make this play.’”
Durant understands the weight of his words as evidenced by him telling Booker to be aggressive early prior to last week’s road game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Booker responded with scoring 16 of his 31 points in the first quarter of a 127-109 victory.
“KD came to me before the game and was like, ‘I want you aggressive. Don’t worry about getting me involved. I’ll get myself involved,'” Booker said after the game.
Durant also expresses excitement for teammates after great plays, whether it’s a congratulatory tap on the head of Gordon after two huge 3s tied the game late in a comeback thriller Tuesday over the Kings or stepping too far on the court cheering two-way big Udoka Azubuike’s dunk at Sacramento.
“That’s someone who instills confidence in all of us throughout the locker room,” Booker said.
Goodwin said Durant is someone “you can call him if you need anything, he’ll help you out.”
Grayson Allen: ‘He wants challenges’
So, when Durant hears the leadership questions, he just wonders how one can think such a thing.
“I view those people as ignorant because they’ve never been in the locker room, they’ve never been on a team I’ve played on, they’ve never been at a practice or shootaround,” Durant told The Republic. “So how can you make an analysis on something you’ve never seen or heard of?”
Still, Durant will always be known as an all-time bucket first.
Arguably the game’s purest scorer ever, Durant is 10th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and on pace to move up to eighth by the end of this regular season. Durant is 723 points behind Shaquille O’Neal at eighth and trails Carmelo Anthony by just 416 points.
If he continues to average 28.9 points a game, Durant will catch both in fewer than 26 games. The Suns reached the midway point of the 82-game regular season after Friday’s win at New Orleans.
However, Durant, with an accumulation of injuries, including an Achilles that was season ending, is guarding the opposing team’s main offensive players such as Kawhi Leonard (Clippers), LeBron James (Lakers), Anfernee Simons (Blazers), Domantas Sabonis (Kings) and Brandon Ingram (Pelicans) in recent games.
“He wants challenges,” Suns guard Grayson Allen said. “He wants those assignments defensively, which is surprising, especially for a guy that does so much offensively, but also, he’s getting old (laughs).”
Frank Vogel: ‘I love that’
When Vogel became the Suns new head coach, he talked during his introductory press conference about a conversation with Durant about defense.
“He said, ‘I can’t wait to guard in your system,’” Vogel said back in June. “He wants to get after it on both sides of the ball and feels like that’s something that really gets him going on the other end and I love that.”
Durant is just keeping his word to his defensive driven coach — and himself, to perform to the best of his ability.
“My calling and my purpose of being a human being is to be the greatest basketball player I can be,” said Durant, after Tuesday’s win when asked what fuels his drive to be a good defender.
“That’s the reason why I’m alive at this point. I got to lock in on every aspect of the game and become great at it. I’m still working.”
Bradley Beal: ‘He’s a human being’
Durant has also developed a reputation for his interactions on social media.
Superstars tend to ignore social media, but Durant not only responds, but will clap back.
“Maybe fans just don’t like how he interacts on Twitter,” a smiling Beal said. “He’s a human being. He can do whatever he wants.”
Just bringing the barber shop to social media.
“I love fans,” Durant said. “I love the game of basketball and I engage because I would engage in a conversation if I was in person with you at a game. I don’t think it’s a problem to engage with basketball fans about basketball.
“It’s always been looked at as negative that I do that, but in all actuality, it’s doing nothing but helping the game that one of your biggest superstars, quote unquote, is interacting with the fans in all areas. I sign autographs at games. I talk to fans on Twitter. I talk barber shop talk with anybody on basketball. Why is this such a problem?”
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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