Kevin Durant ready to work, win championship with Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns didn’t trade away three players who helped them turn around their franchise along with their immediate draft future for superstar Kevin Durant to fall short of winning an NBA championship.

They did it to win it all right now.

Durant is ready to work towards that goal with his new team.

“I think we’ve got all the pieces to be successful,” Durant said. “We’ve got guys who can do pretty much everything on the floor. So, we’ve got to put it together and I’m looking forward to doing the work.”

The Suns had Durant’s introductory press conference Thursday afternoon with 6,000 or so fans in attendance at Footprint Center, where a noticeable buzz and excitement could be felt.

“Valley, thank you for having us,” new Suns team owner Mat Ishbia said as he sat center court with Durant and Suns president of basketball operations and general manager, James Jones. “Appreciate you all coming out for a special day here in Phoenix.”

The crowd chanted “K-D, K-D, K-D” repeatedly throughout the press conference that lasted a little more than 20 minutes.

“I truly don’t think I deserve all this because I know I’ve done a lot of good things in basketball, but I haven’t done it yet in a Suns jersey,” Durant said. “I’m looking forward to doing it.”

The Suns now have Durant on their large team photos outside of the arena and there were multiple digital advertisements with “Welcome To Phoenix’ message with Durant’s picture on it in the city.

“I want to go out there and do the most that I can and be the best that I can every day for you guys,” Durant said. “I appreciate the warm welcome, but I’ve got more work to do.”

The Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, who didn’t play for them this season as they’ve been trying to move him since training camp, four future first-round picks and a pick swap to Brooklyn for Durant and T.J. Warren right before last week’s trade deadline.

“I took this job a few years ago determined to try to build a team built for championships,” said Jones, who was the interim general manager for the 2018-19 season.

“I think we’ve reached a point where we’ve been able to add arguably one of the greatest players to play this sport. It’s taken a lot of hard work, a lot of determination, a lot of commitment from the fans and everyone inside and outside of this building, but I stand here today proud and happy to introduce No. 35 for the Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant.”

Durant won’t make his Suns debut until after the All-Star break as he’s been out with a right MCL sprain. Having not played since Jan. 8 at Miami, Durant is more than eager to return to action.

“Hopefully soon,” said Durant as the fans started cheering. “Hopefully you can feel my enthusiasm to get ready to get out there and play.”

Phoenix’s first game out of the break is Feb. 24 at home against Oklahoma City, the franchise with which he started his NBA career.

Durant was drafted second overall in 2007 by the Seattle SuperSonics, which moved to OKC going into his second NBA season in 2008-09 season.

“I’m going to follow the training staff and go on the schedule they got me on,” Durant continued. “So hopefully soon after the break.”

Durant attended his first game Tuesday at Footprint Center and received a standing ovation twice when introduced on the jumbotron.

Next week, he may make his debut before a sellout crowd of 17,071 that could’ve never dreamed years ago that Durant would be wearing No. 35 for the Suns.

“They came out there to see him,” said Suns center Deandre Ayton, after Tuesday’s win over the Kings at Footprint Center. “Just imagine when he suits up and ready to play."

Back in 2018-19 when he was with the Warriors, Durant spoke highly of the Suns in a season they won just 19 games that season.

“They’ve got some talent over here,” Durant said. “T.J. Warren, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton play well off each other.”

Warren played his first five seasons in Phoenix with the final one being in 2018-19.

The Suns have grown into a team that reached the finals in 2021 and had the league’s best record last season in winning a franchise-best 64 games.

Now they have Durant and are looking to win it all this season.

“They experienced a lot the last couple of years,” Durant said. “You see the growth of this team. When Monty (Williams) took over, when James came in, I saw the culture start to change. The way they played on the floor, the energy that they play with started to change.”

Jones’ first major hire was Williams, who worked with Durant as an assistant with USA Basketball and at Oklahoma City, in May 2019.

“I always loved playing here in Phoenix,” Durant continued. “The fans always showed love to just good basketball in general. They always cheered their team on, but they always showed love to the opposing team as well. I knew this would be a great place to play and a great place to continue get better as a player.”

Then Durant named Booker, Paul and Ayton and talked about how the Suns have guys who work.

“I’m excited I’m here, I’m looking forward to trying to add as much as I can and add to the group already,” Durant continued. “They’ve built themselves up and built the infrastructure for themselves already. I’m looking forward to adding to it.”

Coming up short in Brooklyn

Durant’s career is filled with accolades ranging from winning 2013-14 NBA MVP, winning three Olympic gold medals, two NBA titles, and being named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team, but there were “a lot ups and downs” as he put it during his four years in Brooklyn.

“But I loved the grind,” Durant continued. “Everybody in Brooklyn loved the grind, too. So, I built a family over there. They’re going to always be a part of my journey. We didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish as far as winning a championship, but I enjoyed the grind and everybody there, we tried our hardest every day regardless of what was going on in the media, what was going on with our teammates. Everybody who was in that gym, we grinded.”

With Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Durant, the Nets were favored to win an NBA title after Durant sat the entire 2019-20 season with a torn Achilles suffered in the 2019 finals in his third and final season with the Warriors.

“I get emotional talking about because that was a special four years of my career, coming off the Achilles,” Durant said. “They helped me through a lot.”

Durant won back-to-back championships and finals MVPs with the Warriors his first two years there, but he didn’t have the same success in Brooklyn.

The Nets only won one playoff series in the two full seasons he played in Brooklyn.

“We just didn’t get on the court enough,” Durant said. “I think when you saw James, Kyrie and myself, it was amazing basketball for 17 games (laughs), but in order for you to win a championship and to be a great team, you need more time on the floor. It’s another story about why we didn’t get on the floor together, but we just didn’t get enough time on the floor.”

Durant had Phoenix atop his wish list of destinations when he demanded a trade out of Brooklyn last summer, but he and Nets talked it out and he stayed.

The Nets were 31-20 and in playoff contention before Irving demanded a trade. They ended up moving him to Dallas in a mega deal before the trade deadline.

Harden was already in Philadelphia. The Nets traded him to the 76ers in a deal involving Ben Simmons before last season.

Without those two fellow All-Stars, it seemed inevitable Durant would part ways, too.

On late Wednesday night after Ishbia was had his introductory press conference as team owner earlier that day, the Suns pulled off the biggest deal of this year’s trade deadline to acquire Durant.

“I could feel the excitement as soon as I got off the plane,” Durant said about his arrival in Phoenix. “Everywhere I’ve been so far, our fans have been giving me a warm welcome, but I feel like still got to prove myself every day. They’ve set a high standard for the players here. I can tell how dedicated they are to the team. It’s a high standard set every night for each player, and I want to reach that every day.”

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant ready to work, win championship with Phoenix Suns