{"id":113819,"date":"2024-12-24T15:13:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T20:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113819"},"modified":"2024-12-24T15:14:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T20:14:07","slug":"evolving-spurs-suns-main-kevin-durant-competitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/24\/evolving-spurs-suns-main-kevin-durant-competitor\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolving Spurs Are Suns\u2019 Main Kevin Durant Competitor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns have plenty of reasons to be confident Kevin Durant<\/a> will sign a contract extension rather than become a free agent<\/a> in 2026.<\/p>\n

For one, they\u2019ve demonstrated their commitment to winning titles with their personnel moves. Secondly, he has a strong relationship with franchise cornerstone Devin Booker<\/a>. Lastly, the 36-year-old is extremely cognizant of the labels he\u2019s been given and bristles at the thought<\/a> of being called a \u201cjourneyman\u201d (or being criticized in general).<\/p>\n

Regardless of that, the fact of the matter is that they have real competition for Durant, who could be on the verge of his 15th All-Star selection.<\/p>\n

Evolving Spurs Are Suns\u2019 Main Kevin Durant Competitor<\/h2>\n

As far as the current title contenders, the New York Knicks will be the among Durant\u2019s most popular potential suitors, as he considered signing with them<\/a> in 2019. In 2016, he met with the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, among other teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Durant explores free agency in 2026, the Knicks and Celtics are likely to still be among the NBA\u2019s elite. With the respect Durant has for those organization\u2019s history and prestige, a man as fond of basketball as him might entertain the idea of riding out the rest of his career with them. However, there\u2019s at least one other team Durant has had interest in before that could be a contender post-2026. Adding to the intrigue is that they\u2019re another reverent franchise.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the San Antonio Spurs were among the teams that Durant was willing to hear a pitch from. At the time, there were coming off a 67-15 season while led by Kawhi Leonard<\/a> and LaMarcus Aldridge<\/a>. Fast-forward to today and the Spurs are a shell of their former selves. With that being said, they\u2019re not a broken husk, they\u2019re a seed ready to bloom under the Texas sun.<\/p>\n

Trending In The Right Direction<\/h3>\n

In 2023-24, the Spurs went 22-60 for the second straight season. The difference was that this time, they had 2023 No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama<\/a>. The French phenom proved himself to be an all-world player in short order. Not only did he win Rookie of the Year<\/a> honors after his historic start, he was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This season, Wembanyama is even better. He\u2019s also made himself more of a mismatch weapon, with 50.2 percent of his shot attempts coming from beyond the arc. There\u2019s been debate about his shot diet<\/a> since he could easily dominate the paint at 7-foot-3. Nonetheless, he\u2019s all but the perfect modern center.<\/p>\n

He can score and get stops from anywhere on the court. He can handle the ball in space and make defenses pay for leaving teammates open. So, led by as close to a once-in-a-lifetime player<\/a> as it gets, the Spurs have now managed to break into the playoff race. At 15-14, they\u2019re ninth in the Western Conference standings, 0.5 games ahead of the Suns. Only 2.0 games separate them from Denver Nuggets, who are led by a three-time MVP in the prime of his career.<\/p>\n

Just imagine what their record would look like if they had Durant as Wembanyama\u2019s co-star. That isn\u2019t to take anything away from Devin Vassell<\/a>, who could be a solid third option on a contending team. Still, Durant is an all-time great. Having a scorer like him around takes San Antonio\u2019s offense to a whole new level.<\/p>\n

Creating & Recreating History<\/h3>\n

Durant\u2019s respect for the Spurs and their current metamorphosis isn\u2019t enough for him to join them. He also has to want to be a major part of Wembanyama\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n

Looking back at former Spurs greats, Durant and Wembanyama\u2019s story could be similar to David Robinson<\/a> and Tim Duncan<\/a>. Though Robinson was already in place when San Antonio drafted Duncan, his experience and ability to carry a team was invaluable. It\u2019s also worth noting that Robinson won two titles alongside his young co-star.<\/p>\n

With that being said, Wembanyama idolizes Durant. When considering that developing mentorship<\/a> and the way Durant has taken to the younger generation of players in general, it\u2019s entirely possible that he decides to be the Obi Wan-Kenobe to Wembanyama\u2019s Anakin Skywalker. The 36-year-old is already immortalized but becoming part of Wembanyama\u2019s story might have a bigger effect on NBA history than anything he accomplishes with any other team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns have plenty of reasons to be confident Kevin Durant will sign a contract extension rather than become a free agent in 2026. For one, they\u2019ve demonstrated their commitment to winning titles with their personnel moves. Secondly, he has a strong relationship with franchise cornerstone Devin Booker. Lastly, the 36-year-old is extremely cognizant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":113907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,1608,62,28],"tags":[69,297,4669],"class_list":["post-113819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spurs","category-basketball","category-nba","category-suns","tag-kevin-durant","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113909,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113819\/revisions\/113909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}