The Phoenix Suns are considered a championship contender with Kevin Durant.
Without him, they’ve lost their last three games and risk missing out on the playoffs. Durant is due for a reevaluation of his sprained left ankle in late March.
Fourth in the Western Conference, Phoenix (37-32) has the seventh toughest remaining schedule according to Tankathon. The Suns are expected to pick up a home win Thursday against the rebuilding Magic (28-41), but they lost in Orlando in November.
Now the Suns should make the playoffs, but can’t afford to keep losing with Durant sidelined.
While James Jones, the team’s president of basketball operations and general manager, said last week that Durant would play if the playoffs were held now, the initial schedule the team gave on March 9, the day after Durant twisted his ankle in pregame practice, has the 13-time All-Star up for reevaluation on March 30.
They announced that he would be reassessed in three weeks.
“Kevin wants to play,” Suns coach Monty Williams said ahead of Monday’s loss to defending NBA champion Golden State. “I hate responding to stuff like that because if I say something it becomes a thing, right? I think it shows how much he wants to play. I haven’t received many reports outside of his progress.
However, Jones also gave a timeline suggesting Durant could return sooner rather than later.
“In 16 games we’ll be in the playoffs anyway,” Jones said before Phoenix lost last Saturday to Sacramento. “Kevin being with us for 10 or six of them, Kevin knows how to play. We’re not worried that Kevin will forget how to play basketball in the next eight games.
Durant watched the second half of Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee from the bench in street clothes. He even picked up the basketball during timeout and dribbled the ball around a bit in regular shoes.
Phoenix traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round picks and one pick trade just before the Feb. 9 trade deadline in Brooklyn for TJ Warren and Durant. The Suns are 3-0 with Durant on the floor, but have gone 1-3 since injuring his ankle.
The Suns have six games left after March 30, including two at home against West-leading Denver, one against the Los Angeles Lakers (34-36) and another at home against the Los Angeles Clippers (37 -33) to end the regular season. The other two are in Oklahoma City (34-35) and at home against San Antonio (18-51).
They have seven games by March 30, four against teams within four games of them in the Western Conference:
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Sunday at Oklahoma City (34-35).
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March 22 at LA Lakers (34-36).
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March 27 vs. Minnesota (35-35).
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March 29 at Utah (33-36).
The other three games are Thursday against Orlando, March 24 at Sacramento (41-27) and March 25 at home against Philadelphia (46-22).
The Suns still have 13 games to play, but they’re only half a game ahead of the Clippers. The Warriors (36-34) are just a game and a half behind the Suns after losing to the Clippers in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Phoenix holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Golden State, 3-1 and is 2-1 against the Clippers with the final regular season game scheduled for April 9 at the Footprint Center.
The Suns are only 2½ games ahead of the Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks (35-35), three ahead of the Thunder and 3-½ ahead of the Lakers.
The T-Wolves, Thunder and Lakers are in the playing space with the Mavs, but could help push Phoenix into this tournament with head-to-head wins over them.
The seventh and eighth seeds play in the play-in for the seventh seed. The loser hosts the 9-10 game winner for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Suns have never participated in the play-in tournament.
Utah is on the outside and looking in the play-in, just four games behind Phoenix.
Now let’s go beyond the numbers to explain why the Suns should be concerned.
First of all, the play-ins are not the playoffs. This is your chance to play your way to the playoffs. There’s a lot of pressure to win just to make the playoffs.
No team, not even Phoenix, wants to be in this situation.
Second, anyone who’s watched the Suns without Durant in those last four games can see that their rotations are unstable, they’re giving up 3s and it’s not the same team that won 34 games before Durant.
No bridges and no Johnson.
Terrence Ross is catching up on their offensive production to some degree, but the Suns aren’t the same team defensively without Bridges and Johnson.
Third, teams just blitz Booker and make other guys beat them and they rely on guys to deliver an offensive punch that frankly shouldn’t have to do like Ish Wainright.
He was Dallas’ unsung hero, but Durant and Booker were the difference.
Durant has shown he can miss nearly two months with injury and come back and do what he does at the top level, but there will be another adjustment period for him and the rest of the team.
Will he be subject to a one-minute restriction? Probably. Whether Williams enforces it is another matter.
Will he need time to prepare even after the assessment and miss another game or two?
Maybe, but the build-up could be part of that three-week period.
With Durant, the Suns can win it all, but can’t just fold without him to the point of having to come out of the play-ins to qualify for the playoffs.
Last year, the Clippers were eighth in the West and lost twice to miss the playoffs.
Phoenix doesn’t want to be in that situation next month, even with the ultimate move to Durant with Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton.
Do you have an opinion on the current state of the Suns? Contact 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: Struggling Suns need wins against 7th toughest NBA schedule