The 2024-25 NBA season hadn't gone to plan for the Phoenix Suns in the first half, but the All-Star break gave them an opportunity to reset and focus on finding a way to get into the playoffs. Their first test after the break looked like more of what we witnessed in the first half.
The Suns lost to a San Antonio Spurs team without Victor Wembanyama despite getting a season-high 27 points from Royce O'Neale. That loss was Phoenix's fourth in a row and dropped the Suns to 26-29 on the season. As of this writing, the Suns hold the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference. If the season ended today, they wouldn't even make the Play-In Tournament, let alone the playoffs. They are only 2.0 games back of the last Play-In spot, so they're very much alive, but the clock is ticking with less than 30 games to go in the regular season.
What really makes this loss sting for Phoenix outside of losing to a subpar Spurs team without its best player is that Kevin Durant played 39 minutes in this game. Durant has played 39 minutes or above in each of Phoenix's last four contests he's been able to play in, and despite that, the Suns have lost all four.
KD is playing 42.5 minutes per game his last 4 games and the Suns have lost all of them
— Its RBover (@RyB_311) February 21, 2025
Durant has been dominant in those four games, averaging 30 points per game on absurd 62.2/41.7/78.3 splits, along with 4.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists. It's hard for Durant to have played much better than he has, and yet, the Suns are still losing these games, two of which have come against sub-.500 teams.
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Suns are losing games and burning out Kevin Durant in the process
For reference, Kyrie Irving leads the league in minutes per game at 36.6. Durant is playing substantially more than that over the last four games. Losing games is one thing, but doing so while playing Durant an absurd amount of minutes is another.
This isn't 22-year-old Durant we're talking about here, either. Durant is a 36-year-old who has dealt with an extensive amount of injuries in recent years. He has been limited to fewer than 60 games in four of the past five seasons entering the 2024-25 campaign, and missed time this season on two separate occasions.
At this point, it's really hard to expect much out of the Suns this season. Their biggest issue is their lack of depth, so they've resorted to playing Durant and Devin Booker far more than other stars. Despite that, they're still losing games, even to teams below them in the standings.
The Suns might find a way to make the Play-In or even the playoffs, but even if they do, it's hard to expect them to do any damage if they're unable to beat this Wembanyama-less Spurs team with Durant playing as many minutes as he did on Thursday. That, obviously, is a massive shame.