Nearly two months removed from playing his last NBA game (in a different uniform), Kevin Durant returned from injury last night to make his Suns debut. The Suns won the game, and Durant looked sharp, but there are still plenty of questions to be answered.

Durant looked like his typical self, scoring 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while adding six rebounds, two assists and two blocks as Phoenix won, 105–91. (You can watch his highlights here.) Given how injuries have limited his availability over the past four seasons, it was a relief to see Durant come back and play like we’re used to seeing him play. Most importantly, Rohan Nadkarni writes, KD integrated himself into the Phoenix offense smoothly:

With Devin Booker also cooking and Deandre Ayton putting up an efficient 16 points of his own, KD never had to go into takeover mode. His offense came within the flow of Phoenix’s normal attack, and the ball never seemed to stick. The Hornets provide an easier tune-up than most, but the early returns would indicate it will not be difficult for the Suns to weave Durant into what they’re already doing offensively. Oftentimes offenses can look clunky when integrating a star of Durant’s caliber. There didn’t seem to be any of that Wednesday.

We should be careful not to take too much away from this one game, though. Durant was on a minutes restriction in his first game back, so it remains unclear how coach Monty Williams will manage his rotation when KD is allowed to play more minutes. Phoenix plays in Chicago on Friday night before a Western Conference clash Sunday with the Mavericks in Dallas, which will be broadcast nationally on ABC. KD is then set to make his home debut Wednesday against the Thunder.

The biggest question for the Suns is whether the 19 games remaining in the regular season will be enough for the team to adjust to its new construction. Trading for Durant was a win-now move, and the new-look Suns will have to figure out how to play together quickly if they’re going to reach and win the Finals. Adding a scorer as lethal as Durant to a lineup that already included automatic bucket Devin Booker and Hall of Fame distributor Chris Paul (with Deandre Ayton securing the interior) should be easy enough to figure out. But the Suns gave up a starter in Mikal Bridges to acquire Durant, not to mention a decent role player in Cameron Johnson. Josh Okogie got the start last night alongside Paul, Booker, Durant and Ayton. The challenge for Williams will be deciding who to pair with those four stars—and the Suns have only a month to figure it out before the postseason starts.

The best of Sports Illustrated

In today’s Daily Cover story, Kevin Sweeney previews what men’s bubble teams need to do between now and Selection Sunday to get into March Madness.
LeBron James’s injury presents an opportunity for Anthony Davis to step up in a way he hasn’t in years, Chris Mannix writes.
NFL teams had concerns about Jalen Carter’s attitude even before an arrest warrant was issued in relation to a fatal car crash that killed a teammate and Georgia staffer, team employees tell Albert Breer.
Pat Forde writes that Carter and Alabama basketball player Brandon Miller share “an eerie, tragic connective thread” after they were tied to tragic events that coincidentally occurred on the same night in mid-January.
Richard Johnson has a few notes from the NFL combine in Indianapolis, including how Alabama linebacker Will Anderson has been inspired by the women in his life.
Zakai Zeigler’s season-ending injury is a serious blow to Tennessee’s national title hopes, Kevin Sweeney writes.
Ja Morant is accused of punching a 17-year-old in the head during an incident last summer.
Eagles defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson criticized former defensive coordinator and current Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon’s Super Bowl game plan in a since-deleted tweet.
The PGA Tour is making significant changes to some tournaments next year in response to LIV Golf.
Tickets to Sunday’s Big Ten showdown between No. 15 Indiana and Michigan top $1,000 with Selection Sunday less than two weeks out.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Kevin Durant’s long outlet pass to Devin Booker.

4. TCU fans storming the court after beating men’s No. 9 Texas.

3. Martin Nečas’s individual effort on this goal.

2. Jalen Brunson’s 30-point first half against the Nets. He finished with 39 as the Knicks won, 142–118.

1. Connor McDavid’s slick stickhandling for his second goal of the night. That makes McDavid just the fifth player in NHL history to have five straight multigoal games.

SIQ

On this day in 1993, Mario Lemieux underwent his final radiation treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Pittsburgh, then flew to Philadelphia for the Penguins’ game against the Flyers. What did Lemieux do in the game?

Serve as assistant coach
Play one celebratory shift
Score a goal and assist on another
Score a hat trick

Yesterday’s SIQ: On March 1, 1968, strong winds blew the roof off which city’s brand-new arena, forcing the local NBA and NHL teams to play elsewhere for a month?

Philadelphia
New York
Chicago
Detroit

Answer: Philadelphia. The Spectrum had opened only months earlier, but during a performance of the Ice Capades in February, strong winds ripped up a section of the roof, opening a hole. The roof was patched, but then more wind tore it open March 1, forcing the arena to be closed.

The Sixers were able to play their home games at Convention Hall (their previous home) and the historic Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The Flyers weren’t so lucky. There wasn’t another pro-quality hockey rink anywhere else in the city, so they played at New York’s Madison Square Garden before crashing at the home arena of their AHL affiliate, the Quebec Aces.

The arena had been built in a hurry by then Eagles owner Jerry Wolman, who promised when construction began in early 1966 that it’d be ready in just 16 months. It needed to be, or else the city would forfeit its NHL expansion franchise. Wolman had been a founding owner of the Flyers but was forced to sell when a Chicago real estate deal went belly-up. As a Sports Illustrated article by William Johnson about the roof fiasco explained, Wolman’s financial woes impacted construction on the arena:

Unfortunately, Wolman began to run out of money before the Spectrum was finished. Even now the interior walls are raw cement, because there is no money to paint them. To save some cash, Wolman had to get a building-code variance (perfectly legal) on the roofing material, but when the place opened the roof leaked. There is a paucity of lavatories, no clocks and no lobby. Nonetheless, the Spectrum was finished on time, Philadelphia did get its hockey team and everyone agreed that, despite its Spartan decor, the new arena was a splendid place to watch indoor spectaculars.

To make things worse, the matter of who would foot the bill for the repairs became a political issue, with Philadelphia’s Democratic mayor James H.J. Tate and Republican attorney general Arlen Specter butting heads. (Tate had narrowly beaten Specter in the race for mayor months earlier.)

The roof was finally fixed in time for the Flyers to play their first playoff game against the Blues on April 4.

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