The insane stat that proves Kevin Durant might actually have an MVP case

It is no secret that the Phoenix Suns are struggling mightily right now without superstar Kevin Durant. An ankle sprain forcing him to miss even more time, having only returned from a calf strain that kept him out for over two weeks prior to that.

Never was the 36-year-old's absence felt more than throughout the 0-3 road trip the Suns recently finished up, which ended in a woeful loss to the Orlando Magic. There's no shame in being defeated to an up-and-coming outfit - but when they were also missing their two best players and simply outworked the Suns to win - it is nowhere near good enough.

Which partly explains why Durant may somehow have an MVP case.

That sounds outrageous, and yet often we don't truly value all it is a player does for a team until they're no longer out there. We see this on a nightly basis with Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets - who go from among the best offenses in the league history when he's out there - to the worst of all-time when he sits.

The stat that gives Durant's own MVP claims some life is not quite as outrageous, but it does hing on that wonderful 8-1 start the team posted to begin the season. Durant was playing around 40 minutes each night and was routinely giving the Suns 30 points - and if it all felt unsustainable - that's because it ultimately was. Lesson learned ahead of the playoffs, Durant can't do that much lifting early on.

Which makes the above stat ridiculous. The Suns went from having the best record in the league early in the season, to the worst since he has been out. If ever there was a way to easily quantify the importance of a player to a team, isn't that it right there? When Durant plays the Suns are contenders. When he doesn't, they have the worst winning percentage of any team in the league.

Not just the Western Conference, as in worse even than the Washington Wizards. If only it were that simply - as with Durant currently missing even more time - any slim chance he had of making a push for the MVP award has already gone up in smoke. So too has the Suns' defensive rating, which in the last 10 games has slid all the way to 22nd in the NBA (116.8).

That's the other part of Durant's game that never gets nearly as much love, how much better his teams are defensively when he is out there. All fans do is focus on the ridiculous scoring ability - and although that is sorely lacking now too - the Suns do still rank 12th (113.3) in that area. It is a case of how much better that could be if this roster was fully healthy.

If anything Devin Booker should perhaps take a page out of Durant's book, and miss a few games. After some tepid displays recently, fans in The Valley are calling for him to be more aggressive in trying to win games. Perhaps if he wasn't playing at all, they would see that Booker is doing plenty for his team right now. Not playing won't win you the MVP, but it has really helped Durant's case here.