The 8-1 start for the Phoenix Suns, it was all just too good to be true wasn't it? First Ryan Dunn sprained his ankle - causing him to miss the thrilling one point win over the Dallas Mavericks - before Jusuf Nurkic appeared on the injury report moving forward as questionable with ankle soreness of his own.
Bradley Beal has already missed some time with an elbow issue, although thankfully he is out there and playing at the moment. All of this, and guys like Monte Morris and Josh Okogie are still failing to get a look in on the Suns' rotation that is being depleted at an alarming rate. Things went to a whole new level of bad on Sunday though.
Kevin Durant is going to miss at least two weeks with a calf strain.
As in, we're now two Sundays away from Durant's calf - which he seemed to be grabbing at in the fourth quarter of that epic win in Dallas - being reassessed, not having him back on the court on that date. This is an absolute disaster for one of the five hottest teams in the league so far this season, and the current leader of the Western Conference.
Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant – off to an MVP-caliber start to the NBA season – suffered a left calf strain on Friday night and will miss be re-evaluated in two weeks, sources tell ESPN. Durant has led Suns to a first place start in the Western Conference at 8-1. pic.twitter.com/tVpUfeMcZ7
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 9, 2024
To make matters worse, the play of Durant in clutch situations so far this season - and the Suns have been in a lot of them - goes a long way to explaining their excellent record to this point. They've had a 36-year-old Durant closing games in ways we've seen him do for more than a decade now, and it felt like this could continue indefinitely.
Only Durant doesn't have the body of a player 10 years his junior, and he's the injury record that should always mean there is a level of caution in playing him big minutes. Which the Suns clearly didn't care about this season, with Durant playing a team high 38.8 minutes per night while giving his team 27.6 per night.
This news means Durant is likely out of massive matchups with the Oklahoma City Thunder (also an Emirates NBA Cup game) and Minnesota Timberwolves. Another meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers is down for three days after the assessment on the injury - again a cup game - so it is unclear if he will make that one either.
Obviously the franchise can once again turn to Devin Booker, who has led the Suns for a decade, and has extra help in the form of Beal playing two-way basketball and Tyus Jones setting the table. But you can bet the team's offensive and defensive numbers are going to take a slide, while the woeful combo of Nurkic and Dunn also possibly missing some time is terrible.
The Suns do have a pair of games against the Sacramento Kings and an Orlando Magic outfit missing their own superstar Paolo Banchero through injury, and they should be looking to tack on some more wins there. But everything was going so well and the team were pulling out difficult wins, that losing that momentum to a tricky calf strain is such a shame. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.