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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
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Kyle Koster

NBA Insider Says the Kevin Durant Phoenix Suns Era May Already Be Over

Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) and Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) fight for position in the first half at Footprint Center. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The Phoenix Suns are in real trouble. They sit a full game out of the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference with seven regular season games remaining. Even if they can sneak into the Play-In tournament they'll have to do a ton of work to get into a seven-game series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. And they are now within Kevin Durant, who has been ruled out for at least the next week with an ankle sprain.

Brian Windhorst, speaking on Tuesday morning's Get Up, suggested that we may have seen the last of Durant in a Suns uniform altogether.

"I think it's really possible because every ankle is different," Windhorst said. "You certainly cannot project how the ankle is going to feel a week from now. This was a nasty turn. He had a similar ankle sprain two years ago—his first year with the Suns—and he missed 10 games."

"The other problem is they're in 11th place right now and they have the hardest remaining schedule," Windhorst continued. "The only thing that's keeping them in it is the two teams in front of them—Sacramento and Dallas—keep losing ... It would be remarkable if he could play again this year in the regular season and I don't know if he's going to be able to stay with the Suns past this summer."

Windhorst makes some pretty fair points here. Durant will turn 37 before next season and it seems like the opportunity to win another championship will be high up on his list of considerations going forward. It's looking like his three chances at playoff success with Phoenix will not amount to much, a stark disappointment for a franchise that took big swings and had high hopes for an era that may be already over.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Insider Says the Kevin Durant Phoenix Suns Era May Already Be Over.

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