Kevin Durant to Return to No. 35 Jersey with Suns After Trade; Wore No. 7 with Nets
Kevin Durant will be back in a familiar number on the Phoenix Suns.
Boardroom announced he will wear No. 35, which was the same one he wore as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics, Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors. He was No. 7 on the Brooklyn Nets.
Phoenix acquired Durant and T.J. Warren from the Nets for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected future first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029) and a 2028 pick swap, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Frankly, Durant has found far more success in his career with No. 35 than he did with No. 7.
He won the 2013-14 MVP as a member of the Thunder, led the league in scoring four times in that number, and won his two championships and two NBA Finals MVPs as No. 35 for the Warriors.
It is difficult to classify the Brooklyn experiment with Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden as anything but a failure, as the team never made it past the second round of the playoffs despite all that star power.
Injuries and other absences were partially to blame, but Durant is now on the Suns, Irving is on the Dallas Mavericks and Harden is a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Now Durant will turn his attention toward chasing the third championship of his career back with his familiar number. The combination of him, Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton is arguably the best in the league, and the wide-open Western Conference will have difficulty keeping up with it if they are all healthy and on the floor together.
The Suns have come close to winning a championship of late and reached the 2021 NBA Finals and finished with the best record in the league last season before they were eliminated in the second round by the Mavericks.
Having someone like Durant, who has lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy twice in his career and can carry the team for extended stretches, could help them get over the top this time around.
