Kevin Durant’s trade to the Phoenix Suns will ‘jolt’ the franchise, claimed head coach Monty Williams.
Durant was traded from the Nets to the Phoenix Suns in the early hours of Thursday morning, with Brooklyn reportedly receiving four future first-round draft picks as well as forwards Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder, was sent to Milwaukee as part of the three-team deal.
The 34-year-old hasn’t played a game for the Suns yet, missing their 116-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks with injury Thursday.
But Suns coach Williams believes Durant’s arrival in Phoenix has already lifted the team.
‘I think it’s more than a lift,’ he said via ESPN after the defeat Thursday night. ‘I think it’s a jolt, if that makes sense. Just because of, not just who he is as a player, but his love for the game.
Kevin Durant was traded from the Nets to the Phoenix Suns in the early hours on Thursday
Suns head coach Monty Williams believes Durant’s arrival has already lifted the team
‘I think the guys are going to see something that they may not have seen before as far as his approach and how much he just loves to play basketball.
‘I think if he could hoop every day, 24/7 he would do that and I think that’s who we are. And so to be able to have someone like that in your gym, but who’s also ultratalented, and one of the best to ever do it, I think it’s going to not just compliment what we do, it’s gonna uplift and give us a bit of a jolt.’
‘We got a chance to be really good,’ Williams added. ‘We got to get a rhythm, we got to understand how we can play together — Kevin can play with anybody. Any team in the league he can find a way to play.
‘Same with Book, same with Chris [Paul] so it’s on us to figure out the guys around those guys and how [DeAndre Ayton] fits and all of that. But we have some time for that … we’ll figure out all that stuff as we go forward.’
Suns veteran Chris Paul, who said he’s known Durant since the former MVP was a camper at Five Star Basketball Camp years ago, claimed the new arrival was ‘different’.
‘What KD say in that interview one time? What did he say? Y’all know who he is,’ Paul said.
‘So you add him to the daggone who is that that the Harlem Globetrotters play against all the time? The Washington Generals. You add him to them and they’re going to be nice. You know what I mean? KD is different, man. He different. That’s why he is who he is. He’s been doing it in this league for a long time. We got to see what it is.’
‘It’s one of the best players to ever play the game,’ Paul said. ‘Just to know how he approaches the game, his nickname’s Easy Money, just somebody who loves the game like that.
Chris Paul said he’s known Durant since he was a camper at a basketball camp years ago
‘I think that’s what brought me and Book closer together because he just love to hoop. And KD, he just love to hoop. So I’m excited about the process of building this team.’
Meanwhile, center DeAndre Ayton claimed the Suns can deal with anything that’s thrown their way with Durant now in the team.
‘Damn right,’ Ayton said when asked if he felt the pieces were now in place for the Suns to win a title this year. ‘You damn right. That’s how I feel.
‘Where we’re at, especially at the start of the season, we lost a few games and we seen what it’s like.
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‘I think we got punched in the face so many times where we’ve adapted and accepted to where, we’ve accepted adversity, it helped build confidence to where we’ve been in situations where a team threw everything at us to stop us even though we didn’t have the right pieces on the court … knowing what these teams can throw at us, we’re ready for it man and it’s going to be real fun because it’s so many pieces, golly.
DeAndre Ayton claimed the Suns can deal with anything that’s thrown their way with Durant
‘It’s trouble and it’s fun because it’s about time. We got the firepower for real and you can feel it.’
Durant remains out because of a sprained MCL in his right knee suffered on January 8 but his new teammate Paul claimed he wasn’t mad about the trade.
‘I mean, he ain’t mad,’ Paul said with a chuckle. ‘But it’s also a lot for him. He’s been there in Brooklyn for a while. I think that’s the thing, I get it, it’s definitely exciting — but there’s a lot that goes into this stuff, man.
‘Obviously guys are changing teams but guys got their families. [Mikal Bridges] and Cam [Johnson]’s settled in Phoenix. KD done built a whole business and he’s a big figure there in Brooklyn, New York. So it’s a lot to deal with. So I think everybody got to figure it out. It just happened.’
