3 early season stats to keep an eye on for the Phoenix Suns

2. Durant from deep

Kevin Durant has had a lot more than expected put on his plate in these early games. He’s had to take on the responsiblity of being the lead playmaker, while being the clear-cut number one scoring threat.

As such, the complimentary, off-ball aspects of his game have had to take a back seat. Chief among them is his three point shooting, which is an element of his game we highlighted in his season preview.

Through four games he’s taking less threes than he has in more than decade, getting up just 3.5 a game and converting only 28 percent of them. This isn’t too surprising since he’s been regularly double teamed, and with no one else to draw the defenses’ focus, he’s not getting many open spot-ups.

Percentages on pull-ups are always lower, so it’s probably best for the offense that he isn’t taking a lot of threes right now. Once either of his running mates make their return to the lineup, his attempts and percentages need to go way up as he slides into more of an off-ball role.