PHOENIX — Kevin Durant finally made his home debut for the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night in a win over Minnesota, but he looked rusty and found support in his coach and teammates to stay grounded.
In a postgame edition of the Locked On Suns podcast, host Brendon Kleen laid out a few examples of how the Suns’ culture helped Durant, who shot 5-18 for 16 points, in his rusty return.
The first came during pregame warmups, where Durant’s name was called first and was met with intense cheer.
“When he did get called first, the fans erupted,” Kleen said. “It was very loud, it was the warm welcome everyone was ready to give him a month ago, and they were finally able to do it.”
The next was a moment caught on ESPN cameras in which head coach Monty Williams told Durant “greatness doesn’t shake its head” after Durant got down on himself.
“It’s a small moment, but those are the ones that build trust, and what Monty was doing there is reinforce his belief in his superstar,” Kleen explained. “And it’s not that Kevin Durant needs that so much as it is affirmation that in this new environment that I’m in if I’m Kevin Durant, in this new context, in this new situation, with a new person running the show in Monty, what I’ve done up to this point, the respect and legendary status that I’ve earned, it’s going to carry weight here.”
Lastly, Durant’s biggest basket came midway through the third quarter on a feed from Devin Booker, after which both Booker and Chris Paul pumped up their new teammate to show him their trust in him.
“They have this bond that we’re starting to see shine through, and that’s important and cool,” Kleen said. “But also just seeing the support and reinforcement … come through from players as well.
“That as much as we’re hyping up and emphasizing and getting nervous about the general quick pressure cooker sprint experiment that this will be with Durant only playing 10 games in the regular season as a Sun before he has to roll it out into the playoffs, they’re good. They have a connection, and they’re getting comfortable interpersonally very quickly.”
The Suns face the Nuggets at home on Friday as Durant looks to bounce back.