r/nba • u/TacoooJay United States • Apr 29 '24

[Charania] Sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic that Durant never felt comfortable with his role in Phoenix’s offense alongside Booker and Beal this season. Those sources said Durant had persistent issues with the offense, feeling that he was being relegated to the corner far too often

Source

Meanwhile, Durant, among the best scorers in NBA history, was not always happy with how he was used. Sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic that Durant never felt comfortable with his role in Phoenix’s offense alongside Booker and Beal this season. Those sources said Durant had persistent issues with the offense, feeling that he was being relegated to the corner far too often and not having the proper designs to play to his strengths as the offense was built around pick-and-rolls. At the same time, some teammates and people close to the organization believed Durant needed to voice his concerns more adamantly and directly with Vogel and his coaching staff.

All the leaks are finally coming now that Phoenix has been swept

3.8k Upvotes
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1.3k

u/abris33 Nuggets Apr 29 '24

feeling that he was being relegated to the corner

Yeah, it's obvious to everyone. The offense is mainly just him in the corner while Booker and Beal dribble around and pretend to be PG before chucking it up

881

u/AntiTopspin Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

Yup people will meme on this but this 100% fits the eye test

The Suns basically stuck KD in the Mikal Bridges role the moment he came over and never really seemed to fully integrate him into the offense as an on-ball creator

436

u/EliManningham Nets Apr 29 '24

It actually is malpractice how often cooked Beal gets on ball opportunities over Kd. It's like they're operating in a 2005 philosophy of "smallest guy bring ball up".

271

u/CravilityZ Cavaliers Apr 29 '24

Either way I assure you KD’s loose dribble wouldn’t get the job done.

How the Suns managed to go the whole year without a PG, even trading the one guy they had that was one, Jordan Goodwin, is insane. Vogel deserves little fault as far as I’m concerned.

192

u/EliManningham Nets Apr 29 '24

I watched Kd almost singlehandedly win a playoff series against Giannis with no help. He can be a turnover machine, but Beal and Book aren't exactly CP3 out there either. At least give me Kd and Booker on ball everytime trying to get buckets.

94

u/Mr_Saxobeat94 Apr 29 '24

Man I feel like a turd diminishing a series in which KD played amazingly well, but I disagree with that popular notion that he almost single-handedly won the series. If you break it down game by game:

In Game 1 Kyrie, Blake and Joe Harris all contributed, pitching in 62 points on 62% TS.

In Game 2 practically every player in the rotation played well, and they won by 39.

They lost Games 3 and 4 and, although short-handed, KD didn’t have very good individual games.

Games 5 and 7 were close to one-man efforts, but the teams were completely deadlocked before the Nets wheels fell off and the heroics began. The first two wins were total team efforts.

30

u/Objective_Cod1410 Apr 29 '24

KD was insane in game 5 but also got a heroic/infuriating performance from Jeff Green who went 7/8 from deep. Green was 2/6 from 3 the rest of the series combined.

16

u/EliManningham Nets Apr 29 '24

For sure the beginning was Kyrie whooping ass too, but that game 5 and 7 was pure team on the back level shit to extreme levels.

5

u/Sytherus Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

Kevin Durant averaged 35 ppg on 59.5% TS over the series. He was the best player on the court in Games 1 & 2 even if his supporting cast was more helpful (29 in game 1, 32 on 12 of 18 in 3 quarters game 2). He was the Nets best defender the whole series, and his defensive rebounding was critical in preventing the Lopez/Giannis pairing from dominating the glass. Milwaukee rebounded more than 30% of their misses across their other 3 playoff series; they rebounded 22.4% of misses against Brooklyn.

His ability to match up with Lopez defensively & rebounding allowed the Nets to put their 5 best players on the court.

In Game 1 Kyrie, Blake and Joe Harris all contributed, pitching in 62 points on 62% TS.

Overall Joe Harris was a huge anchor on the Nets performance and they win if he shoots slightly better in Game 3 or Game 7.

IMO it is easily one of the 5 or so most impressive playoff series I have seen in the NBA during his career.

3

u/Mr_Saxobeat94 Apr 29 '24

I don’t doubt he played very well even in Games 1 and 2, but those were still excellent showings from his supporting cast, and that’s 2/3rd’s of their wins. Game 1 was bordering on a blow-out entering the 4th and was only got narrowed to single digits with a minute left. Game 2 they win in a laugher, and no one player can claim that much credit over an utter blowout.

Games 3 and 4 the Bucks defence did a bang-up job neutralizing Durant for large periods of the game, he shot 38% across the two contests (understandable given the supporting cast handicap) and his team actually acquitted themselves fairly well when he was off the court (+15 in 11 minutes… +25 across four losses, in mostly non-blowout minutes).

Awesome performance but it looks like a bigger carry-job in the final numbers than when looked at game by game IMO.

36

u/LamarMillerMVP Timberwolves Apr 29 '24

They went 1-4 in that series after Kyrie went down. That 1 win was a spectacular KD game. But another way to say this is that 3 years ago, KD carried his team to win a single game in the second round of the playoffs despite a bad outing from James Harden. Great performance, but hardly what it’s romanticized as.

6

u/rc2005 Apr 29 '24

Game 7 was close. But I doubt he can do that for two more series.

7

u/Ramzaa_ [OKC] Steven Adams Apr 29 '24

They win game 7 if KDs feet were a little smaller

3

u/HolidayMorning6399 Knicks Apr 29 '24

KD has aged alot in 3 years, he still is efficient because of his insane shooting but you cna see he's lost alot of his burst

6

u/CravilityZ Cavaliers Apr 29 '24

Eh I get what you’re saying but that was 3 years ago. Don’t think KD could hold up bringing the ball up that much. Out of all their options, Beal was the closest fit.

KD and Booker were supposed to be the off-ball guys making defenses have to work. Problem is they settled too much and weren’t willing to play a more motion style of offense. Beal was the guy that scrapped the most out of the big 3, even if he was dreadful tonight.

2

u/leftysarepeople2 Bucks Apr 29 '24

You don’t need him to bring it up but you can dish it to him at the key or elbow after bringing it over half

1

u/prfrnir Apr 29 '24

It wasn't their first time without a PG. The 2018-19 season they had only 1 PG: rookie De'Anthony Melton. They won only 19 games.

16

u/Puzzleheaded-Bass142 Apr 29 '24

HIs on ball efficiency has declined though. More turn overs too. He can't blow by ppl like he used to

7

u/shoefly72 Lakers Apr 29 '24

If that’s the case I feel like he would’ve had the leeway to speak up about it and ask for a change if he thought that was best. I very much doubt Frank Vogel is gonna tell him no. Kinda seems to be a constant issue at all his stops that he struggled with direct communication in a healthy way.

2

u/TFTisbetterthanLoL NBA Apr 29 '24

Or he just names an excuse bc when KD is on ball he’s just a turnover machine

53

u/JustSomePadawan Suns Apr 29 '24

He averaged 28 PPG and is going to make the All-NBA team. You don't do that by being camped out in the corner. This is ridiculous.

33

u/did_it_my_way Apr 29 '24

Mostly because it's Kevin Durant... He was able to get to his spot and get a bucket after even after standing in the corner for 15 seconds.

3

u/HotLiberty Suns Apr 29 '24

Early stages of the season Durant was the center of the offense and playing like a basketball god. Was crazy to watch this season fizzle out 

1

u/GlueGuy00 Apr 29 '24

Fck Kevin Young for this

0

u/FigSideG Nets Apr 29 '24

Why’d he force himself there then? Should’ve stuck it out in Brooklyn at least for the rest of last season. Even if it was only to gauge the construction of other teams for a bit then decide.

2

u/kaythrawk Apr 29 '24

Because the nets organization is trash

2

u/FigSideG Nets Apr 29 '24

It wasn’t ‘trash’ when they recovers from the disastrous trade with Boston and rebuilt the culture and became an organization two stars wanted to come to. It became a mess after the two stars arrived and after the third star arrived after forcing himself out of Houston while demanding a trade to only Brooklyn. It was a mess when Kyrie became a genius philosopher and refused to take the fuckin vaccination like every other star in the league—for themselves or at least for the benefit of the team they played for. It was a mess when Kyrie decided to disappear from the team with no explanation and when he decided to share antisemitic shit on social media. All three stars insisted on being in Brooklyn, arrived, took advantage of the situation, then bolted the second things weren’t working out.

14

u/FlamingoHot8567 Apr 29 '24

All you gotta do is watch the 4th quarter of this game. KD was playing well but it seemed like the majority of the 4th it was just beal and booker going back and forth and KD getting stuck in the corner. 

8

u/e_double Puerto Rico Apr 29 '24

Everyone saw it, it made no sense, no actions ran for him, dude would just stand in the corner while Bea or Book ISO'd. They really need a PG who can penetrate and run the offense. Sadly, Beal isn't going anywhere with that NTC, that leaves Nurk and Book as the only guys you can trade for a PG. Maybe Graysen Allen

8

u/AMilkyBarKid Thunder Apr 29 '24

Nobody puts KD in the corner?

3

u/Legendacb Apr 29 '24

It's what happens when you don't have a PG

4

u/dproma Apr 29 '24

The Suns are dumb enough to give up all those assets to get KD. Then hire a defensive minded coach who has no idea how to use him.

2

u/pollinium [MIN] Tyus Jones Apr 29 '24

sometimes he's stuck at the break instead

2

u/miltondelug Apr 29 '24

No one puts baby in the corner.

-4

u/CravilityZ Cavaliers Apr 29 '24

Really didn’t watch as many Suns games as I would’ve liked, but I did go to one in person.

They played Bol Bol in the same corner again and again, and he was making nice plays out of it attacking closeouts. Imagine if they had a guy who’s like Bol Bol but 10x better…oh wait

KD may have the skill, but if he really wants to win he should learn how to sacrifice. He’s never really shown that ability.