Just as it seemed inevitable to see Kevin Durant go on a scoring spree, it seemed inevitable for Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams to marvel at the highlight reels.
Despite smothering double teams, Durant still cans shots with stunning accuracy. Despite playing with his fourth team in only eight regular-season games and five post-season contests, Durant has blended in with knowing when to shoot and defer. And despite becoming riddled in recent seasons with various injuries, the 34-year-old Durant has still performed at an elite level.
But in the Suns’ Game 2 win over the Clippers in their first-round playoff series, Williams sat Durant to open the fourth quarter in hopes to manage his workload. The idea did not sit well.
“Kevin got so mad at me because I took him out,” Williams recalled. “But I’m thinking of the final push of him being fresher. So, trying to find a two-minute break.”
Things still worked out fine. The Suns finished with a double-digit win over the Clippers. Phoenix increased its lead from five to eight points once Durant entered the game with 9:47 left. And he played for the next nine minutes before sitting out once Williams cleared the bench in the final minute.
But this incident perfectly captures the tight rope Phoenix has tried to manage with its top-heavy roster in the postseason. The No. 4 Suns enter their second-round playoff matchup against the top-seeded Nuggets with a chance to eliminate them in the postseason for the second time in three years because they have two elite scorers (Durant, Devin Booker), an elite playmaker (Chris Paul) and an athletic big man (Deandre Ayton). Yet, the Suns also face vulnerability against Denver for reasons beyond matching with its regular-season MVP candidate (center Nikola Jokic). Unlike the Nuggets, the Suns lack both depth and continuity.
Consider Williams’ candor when asked recently on whether the team’s lack of depth can become an issue.
“It can be,” Williams said. “We hope that over the long haul of the series that we can use our guys properly. But I see both sides to it.”
The Suns dealt a lot of their depth to Brooklyn for Durant, knowing that’s the cost to pay for an NBA star. Phoenix traded two valued wing players (Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson), a player unwilling to accept a reduced role (Jae Crowder) and four unprotected first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027, 2029) for Durant and T.J. Warren. After missing all of the 2020-21 season to rehab his surgically repaired right Achilles tendon, Durant has missed a combined 109 regular-season games out of a possible 246.
The good news for the Suns? Unlike other so-called super teams, they haven’t faced any personality clashes or schematic challenges with finding enough shots for everyone.
Through five playoff games, Booker remains on pace to average career highs in points per game (37.2) and shooting percentage (60.2%) partly because of his skills and partly of because of Durant’s presence. After averaging 26 points on a career-high 57% mark through eight regular-season games in Phoenix. Durant has averaged 28.4 points on a career-high 51.8% mark through five playoff games. Paul has gladly taken a backseat in scoring (a career-low 13.8 points per game) while mirroring his career averages in assists (8.2). Ayton has still averaged 16.5 points mostly because of his team-leading 10.8 rebounds.
“Every team I’ve been on, we had a tight knit group because our coaching staff was always tight knit. I feel the same way here,” Durant said. “This is a family organization and family atmosphere. Once you step in here, you get that from day one. It’s on me to adapt and figure out how I can best help the group. I trust they’ll put me in the best positions to be successful.”
Nonetheless, the Suns have weighed the cost-benefit analysis with managing the health of their core players.
In his 18th season, the 37-year-old Paul missed a combined 21 games because of injuries in his right heel (14) and right hip (two). Ayton sat another 10 games with left ankle and right hip injuries. Booker skipped five different games to heal his left hamstring and groin.
The Clippers struggled without Paul George during their first-round series against Phoenix (sprained right knee), and Kawhi Leonard missed Games 3, 4 and 5 after tearing his meniscus in his right knee in Game 1 and worsening it in Game 2. Yet, the Clippers stayed competitive because of its depth.
Nonetheless, the Suns’ stars have scoffed on any concern they need to run around the court on eggshells.
“You don’t get here just sitting on your a–,” Paul said. “You work. That’s been the coolest thing about working out with K every day and with Book. We work. And so we do all the work during the season, during the summer and all that for these moments.”
That hasn’t stopped Williams from nursing conflicted feelings during those moments.
“It’s something I’ve talked to the guys about as I’m watching and going over our rotation template,” he said “But at the end of the day, the goal is to win the game. There is a balance there.”
So far, that balance as tilted toward leaning the Suns’ core players.
Durant logged heavy minutes in Game 1 (45), Game 2 (44), Game 3 (42), Game 4 (45) and Game 5 (44) against the Clippers. Booker had a similar workload in Game 1 (43 minutes) Game 2 (45), Game 3 (45), Game 4 (41) and Game 5 (41). While Paul averaged 38.6 minutes per game, Ayton averaged 34.6 minutes per game. Though Williams has fielded at least an eight-player rotation for every playoff game, only Torrey Craig (25.4 minutes) and Josh Okogie (20) have assumed significant playing time.
“I felt great, but I missed a lot of time this season,” Durant said. “I want to be out there every minute. I wish I played 48 every game. You want to be out there. You don’t want to sit on the bench. Everybody wants to be out there in the action. So regardless, sometimes you might be tired, you just fight through it. But we got such a great training staff, and coaching staff. They always monitor us.”
The Suns have not monitored their core players beyond just calculating their minutes played. Their analytics and medical staff have also studied players’ pace with how it varies on and off the ball. Once Phoenix played postseason games every other day, the team reduced its practice and shootaround lengths. And after eliminating the Clippers on Tuesday, the Suns arrived in Denver on Thursday in hopes to get an early start on training and recovery while adjusting to the city’s altitude.
“When you’re playing every other day in the playoffs, I’m like, ‘There goes load management,’” Williams said. “It’s something that we are concerned about as it piles up. But hopefully we can take advantage of these days.”
The Suns will soon find out.