Denver Nuggets’ title hopes take a brutal turn as Suns land Durant

The Denver Nuggets are riding high, 4.5 games up on their nearest competition and easily in the lead of the NBA’s Western Conference.

But the Nuggets time as favorites to get out of the West and make their first trip to the NBA Finals is already over. The Phoenix Suns pulled off a blockbuster trade late Wednesday night, landing superstar Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets ahead of Thursday’s Trade Deadline.

The Nets get Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029,) and a 2028 pick swap for Durant. TJ Warren was also sent to the desert in the major deal. The trade was made hours after Suns announced new ownership.

Durant is currently out with a knee injury but is expected to return shortly after the All-Star Break. Before getting hurt, KD even at 34-years-old and on a surgically repaired ankle was one of the better players in the NBA. This season he’s scoring 29.7 points a night with seven rebounds and five assists per contest while shooting 56% from the field, 38% from deep and 93% from the line.

The 13-time All-Star, four-time scoring champ, twice NBA Finals MVP and once league MVP leaves New York City after four up-and-down years since leaving Golden State where he won his rings. Durant was originally drafted by Seattle, now Oklahoma City, and has terrorized the Nuggets for years, scoring 1,223 points in 43 games against Denver.

After Kyrie Irving requested a trade and was dealt earlier this week, a year after James Harden did the same, the Nets are blowing it up. They were a shoe-size away from the Finals in 2021, but Milwaukee won a Game 7 and then beat the Suns for a title. Now Phoenix hopes to return to the championship, adding Durant to All-Star Devin Booker and future Hall of Famer Chris Paul as well as young bigman DeAndre Ayton.

For a west that appeared to be wide open and a dragon that seemed to be finally slayed in the Suns, the Nuggets will wake up Thursday in a new reality. Denver has a few hours to add to their roster on Thursday but they do have as good of an option as any to guard both Booker and Durant in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon.

Nikola Jokic is on the verge of an MVP back-to-back-to-back but will he and the core around him be enough to top an NBA superstar (Durant) joining a team that was just in the Finals (Suns.) Sounds familiar, right? Last time Durant did this, the Warriors won it all.

Now losing Bridges and Johnson, who have been the Suns second and third-best players this season does hurt Brooklyn. They’ll also likely have to start Warren, who isn’t the same 20-points-per-game guy he was the last time he was in Arizona. The trade pushed the Suns from 18-1 to 5-1 to win the NBA title.

What do the Nuggets do? Is what they have enough? No matter, the power in the west just shifted with one Woj bomb.