No matter how many times Kevin Durant will take to social media, to remind naysayers of his contributions and achievements, he’ll always be questioned after his team’s losses. Despite having a star-studded lineup with one of the greatest players of all time on the team, the Suns are down 0-2 so far against the Timberwolves in the first-round series. There have been different reasons quoted behind the poor performance of the Phoenix franchise, however, Skip Bayless believes that Durant is the one to be blamed for it.
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On the recent episode of UNDISPUTED, the media veteran lashed out at the Suns and particularly at KD for failing to take his team to the other side. Bayless believes that Durant isn’t the same player anymore who could dictate the outcome of a game all by himself.
Recalling KD’s game seven performance against the Bucks from 2021, Bayless said that he expected the Suns star to be in the same form going against the Wolves. Unfortunately, the 72-year-old was setting himself up for disappointment by thinking that he’d see something similar.
“I kept waiting last night, go, just go…and he was okay. He was pretty good, he certainly wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t KD that took over two game threes in back-to-back years in LeBron’s house and the NBA Finals. Kevin Durant does not have that gear anymore that he can shift into a fifth, sixth, or a seventh gear.”
KD had 31 points with seven rebounds and an assist in game 1, which drastically dropped drastically in game 2 prompting this response from Bayless. The 35-year-old scored 18 points with six rebounds and two assists in 41 minutes of playing time in game 2.
As valid as Bayless’ criticism is, the fans need to come to terms with the fact that KD is going to be 36 in five months, and he can’t be held to the same standards that once used to be a regular outing for him.
Kevin Durant’s decline in postseason
KD’s reputation as one of the best scorers in the history of the league is an understatement. The two-time member of the 50-40-90 club has been revered for his scoring abilities for years. However, something interesting happened during the 2022 postseason when the Nets star at the time was going against the Boston Celtics in a seven-game series. The Celtics’ defense on KD led by Jayson Tatum laid out the blueprint for the rest of the league on how to restrict the otherworldly scorer.
It’d be unfair to say that the Celtics took the charisma away from KD’s game after that series, but the two-time NBA Champion did acknowledge that Tatum and Co. had the best defense in the league. In this year’s playoffs, KD is averaging 24.5 points per game which is the lowest in his career. To give him the benefit of his reputation, it’s only been two games and we never know when someone like KD can find that switch within and change the course of the season.
