This isn't the biggest ‘what if’ in Phoenix Suns history, but it's an intriguing one.
What if Kevin Durant doesn’t suffer an ankle injury during pregame warmups in his first season with the franchise that sidelined him 10 games late in the 2022-23 regular season?
Do the Suns finish with a higher playoff seed? Do they reach the conference finals, NBA Finals? Do the Suns win the whole thing?
If so, Monty Williams doesn’t get fired, and they likely don't trade Chris Paul for Bradley Beal. Maybe all is forgiven between Williams and Deandre Ayton.
Let’s be clear. This isn’t a blame game.
Injuries are unfortunate, even freak ones like the one Durant sustained, but they’re part of the game.
How Durant’s time in Phoenix began tends to get lost in how it continued
and ended with the Suns trading the two-time NBA champion to the Houston Rockets before the 2025 NBA Draft.
Let's rewind to February 2023.
With Mat Ishbia just becoming team owner, the Suns pulled off a blockbuster deal before the trade deadline. They sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and four future first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for TJ Warren and Durant.
Durant was working his way back from a knee injury. He made his Suns debut March 1 against the Charlotte Hornets during a four-game road trip.
Phoenix took that game. They then upended Chicago. Up next was Dallas to end the road trip.
Durant faced his former Nets teammate, Kyrie Irving. Devin Booker versus Luka Doncic, then with the Mavs, often equals drama. The high scoring, entertaining and competitive game came down to the wire.
Durant gets the ball, circles around Tim Hardaway enough to create space to elevate and knock down a game-winning, midrange jumper with 12.1 seconds left. The Suns prevail, 130-126. Durant scored 37 points in 40 minutes.
The city was on fire. Fans were talking championship. Durant was set to make his home debut with the Suns, who were 3-0 with him in the lineup at the time.
Then he took a fall during his pregame warmup, suffered a left ankle sprain and missed Phoenix’s next 10 games.
Wow.
The Suns go 4-6 during this stretch. When Durant returned, Phoenix won five more games to improve to 8-0 with him in the lineup.
The Suns wound up finishing fourth in the West at 45-37, just three games behind the Sacramento Kings.
Now, let’s get into the “what ifs” here.
What if Durant played those 10 games and didn’t get hurt in the regular season? That would have been 18 straight games after he was acquired in which the Suns could've built more chemistry with him.
The Suns aren't winning every game in that stretch, but let’s say they end the regular season with the same record as the Kings at 48-34, but win the season series. Sacramento beat Phoenix twice during Durant’s 10-game absence to finish 2-2 in the regular season against the Suns.
With Durant, Phoenix stands a good chance of winning those final two matchups.
So instead of a fourth seed, the Suns are a third seed and play the Golden State Warriors in the first round. Golden State needed seven games to defeat the Kings in the first round.
Durant versus his former team? Can’t see the Warriors beating the Suns with Durant in the series. Phoenix took its first three matchups against Golden State that season before Durant arrived.
The Suns blitzed the Warriors in the first matchup, 134-105, in a game Klay Thompson earned his first career ejection after two quick technical fouls and verbal exchanges with Devin Booker, who got the better of him that night.
The Warriors won the last matchup, 123-112, at home with Durant sidelined.
So, Suns in six.
Up next? LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers took down the Warriors, 4-2, in the conference semifinals.
The Suns went 2-2 against the Lakers in the regular season, winning the first two matchups, 115-105 and 130-104, in Phoenix before the new year.
They lost the third meeting, 122-111, in Los Angeles during that 4-6 stretch without Durant and the final one, 121-107, in a game the Suns rested Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, Booker and Durant.
Anthony Davis and James both played. The Lakers were trying to avoid the play-in.
Tough series, but Suns again in six. Maybe it goes seven, but advantage Phoenix.
Now here’s where it gets tricky. Suns versus Nuggets in the conference finals.
Nikola Jokic missed out on winning a third straight MVP, but the big man was widely viewed as the game’s best player. He led the Nuggets past the Suns in the conference semifinals, 4-2, but the series was tied 2-2 through four games.
Maybe the Suns are up 3-1 if Paul doesn’t injure his groin in Game 2. Phoenix was leading Game 2 in Denver, 59-55, when Paul checked out with 4:32 left in the third. The Suns took a 73-70 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets outscored them 27-14 the rest of the way to win 97-87 and take a 2-0 series lead.
Now, who is to say Phoenix wins if Paul is healthy? His experience and floor leadership were missed late in Game 2.
Paul sat out the rest of the series, but Booker and Durant carried the Suns to Game 3 and 4 wins to even the series.
Denver took Game 5 at home and won Game 6 in Phoenix to advance to the conference finals. The Nuggets swept the Lakers and only needed five games to defeat the Miami Heat in the finals to win the franchise’s first NBA title.
Say the Suns get past Denver in the conference finals with a healthy Paul and Durant in what would’ve been a seven-game series.
Suns-Heat in finals?
Miami went 2-0 against the Suns in the regular season. The Heat won the first matchup at home, 113-112, after trailing by 13 points in the fourth in November 2022.
They took the second meeting, 104-96, in Phoenix in early January before Durant was acquired. Cameron Payne, Booker and Johnson were down with injuries. Right hip soreness sidelined Paul for the second half.
Miami still won. Jimmy Butler was that dude.
However, the Suns, with a healthy Durant paired with Booker, who averaged a career-high 33.7 points in the playoffs that season? Again, advantage Phoenix.
Now that’s a lot to consider with the starting point being what if Durant doesn’t miss 10 games with the ankle injury.
Blame it on a expansive imagination in thinking Durant’s time in Phoenix should’ve resulted in a championship, not a trade and restart for the Suns.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Do Phoenix Suns win NBA title if Kevin Durant doesn't injure ankle?
