The Phoenix Suns‘ season came to an unceremonious end on Thursday night. For the second year in a row, Phoenix got blown out at home in an elimination game, with Thursday’s loss being a 125-100 defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets to send Nikola Jokic and co. to the Western Conference Finals.
Outside of a big night from Cameron Payne, basically nothing went right for the Suns on the day. That especially applied to Kevin Durant, as the team’s All-Star forward started the evening 1-for-10 from the field and ended with 19 rebounds, five rebounds, and five assists. And after the game, Durant expressed his disappointment in the manner in which Phoenix got taken down.
“It sucked,” Durant said, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “It was a bad feeling. Embarrassing.”
The Suns were short handed in their question to knock off the 1-seed in the Western Conference. Chris Paul suffered a groin injury earlier in the series that held him out, while Deandre Ayton was unable to play in Game 6 due to a rib injury that he suffered a game prior. Regardless, trading for Durant at the deadline was the sort of all-in move that comes with an eye on winning a ring as soon as possible. The good news for Phoenix is that Durant is under contract until the end of the 2025-26 campaign, while Devin Booker has one more year on his current deal before his supermax extension kicks in and will keep him under contract through the 2027-28 season.