Kevin Durant has a nightmare problem he never had to worry about with Suns

Remember when Kevin Durant was with the Phoenix Suns? It might not have ended well and it certainly didn't lead to success, but you could never say the 37-year-old was not the center of attention.

Head coaches who came and went made him the focal point and even superstar Devin Booker didn't mind taking a back seat and letting him have the last shot each night.

Alperen Sengun is center of Houston Rockets' universe

It is clear in the last couple of weeks in particular that Durant is not the player who everybody else revolves around with the Houston Rockets.

Given the miles on his body and the fact he was added as the final piece of their puzzle over there, should he even be surprised? Well, he is certainly acting like it.

This first became truly noticeable in the hugely entertaining game between the Rockets and Denver Nuggets the night before the Emirates NBA Cup Final.

It felt like Durant had about 29 blocks on Nikola Jokic, and defensively he put in the kind of elite performance he did with the Suns that once again did not get the credit that it deserved.

Coming away from that overtime loss for the Rockets, and it was billed as a classic between Jokie and Durant's teammate in Alperen Sengun. A pair of centers with similar skill sets going at it.

The sub-heading then focused on Reed Sheppard, and the tremendous leaps he has made after starting the campaign off slowly. He's looking so good that perhaps the Suns should have asked for him in the Durant deal. That's our bad on thinking that was a bad idea.

Point is, Durant was not the star attraction or even the sidekick on the night. You could make the case he was the player of the game, but it was interesting what head coach Ime Udoka did to try and win the game.

With just over six seconds left, he drew up a play for Sengun to take the final shot. It was ugly and rushed and ended in defeat, but that wasn't the point.

Udoka and Durant are friends, yet even he felt that the 23-year-old ascending Turkish star was the right man for the job. He had a triple-double on the night so it is hard to even argue with Udoka on this one.

If you go back 12 months, if the Suns were in the same position Durant would have gotten the ball. We've seen LeBron James adapt to life as no longer being the main man (sort of), but did Durant think this would happen so soon after landing in Houston?

Worse yet, and this truly is not his fault as he has come in and done exactly what he is supposed to do, if the Rockets did win it all plenty would try and discredit that title too. Cruel world, and now one in which he's not the first option on his own team anymore.