Is Kevin Durant playing against the Nuggets? Latest injury update on Suns' star ahead of matchup (1st May 2023)

Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns received a healthy dose of reality at the hands of the Denver Nuggets last Sunday as they lost with a score of 125-107. With the first two games of the series being on the road for the Suns, finding a way to steal a Game 2 win will be a priority for the visiting team.

For Game 2, Kevin Durant is not listed on the injury report as he is available to lace up for a bounce-back performance following his Game 1 outing.

He had 29 points on 12-19 shooting, including 1-3 from three-point range, 14 rebounds, three blocks and one steal from Game 1. He had some good numbers on the stat sheet in the last game, however, Durant did have seven turnovers with only one assist as he made sloppy plays and looked careless with the ball.

His scoring was backed up by Devin Booker's 27 points on 10-19 shooting, eight assists, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

Even with the two scores combining for 56 points, it still wasn't enough to counter what the Nuggets threw at them. From the defensive end, Denver was able to hold them at 30.4% shooting from three-point range while also forcing 16 turnovers to limit their flow and rhythm on the offensive end.

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Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns following the Game 1 loss

Following the Game 1 loss at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, Kevin Durant spoke with the media and knew it was simple - don't turn the ball over a lot and they win.

"I only had one assist and seven turnovers," Durant said. "We're not going to win basketball games like that. I gotta be way more careful with the ball. We'll look at film tomorrow and see what we can do better and see how we can give ourselves a better chance to win."

From Suns coach Monty Williams' perspective, the offense of the team was too predictable and ended up being one of the team's downfalls as the Nuggets found it easy to make their lives difficult to shoot the ball.

“The difference is in possessions, turnovers, and offensive rebounds,” Williams said. “They just destroyed us tonight. We have to regroup and do a much better job at playing with pace on offense. I thought we slowed down tonight for whatever reason."

With total minutes played, Devin Booker logged 40 minutes while Kevin Durant played 36 minutes as the Suns' bench has been an issue that has become evident since the first-round series against the LA Clippers.

To have any chance of advancing past the second-round and leaving Denver in the dust, the Suns are going to need more than single-digit contributions from Josh Okogie, Landry Shamet, Torrey Craig, Damion Lee and Cameron Payne. Additionally, Chris Paul also has to perform better than just a subpar 5-11 shooting for 11 points along with five assists.