“I don’t feel as bullish about these Suns” –Despite advocating for Kevin Durant, Skip Bayless isn’t giving Phoenix the upper hand

The NBA world was rocked when Kevin Durant’s move to the Phoenix Suns was announced. Alongside Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, the Phoenix Suns form one of the strongest teams in NBA history and are most people’s favorites for the title.

Speaking on The Undisputed, Skip Bayless claimed that Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns are not the favorites for the NBA title.

However, Kevin Durant has continuously been injured and has played only three times for the Suns. In his absence, the Suns have maintained good form but have not been as dominant as they looked pre-Kevin Durant.

Chris Paul’s numbers have severely gone down, and question marks over his compatibility with Durant remain. Durant looked dominant in the 3 games that he did play, helping his team win all three.

Skip Bayless claimed that the Suns will need Durant to be at his best, but before that, they need to ensure that he remains fit for the postseason. Bayless also claimed that he only gives the Suns a 26% chance of winning the title:

“26 percent. I don’t feel as bullish about these Suns as I did that Thursday in Phoenix when the bombshell dropped.”

Skip Bayless changes tune on Phoenix Suns and Kevin Durant

It was only recently that Bayless claimed Durant was a better player than LeBron James. Bayless was initially even confident about the Phoenix Suns’ chances of landing an NBA title:

“To me, that game, was why I always said that I believe Kevin Durant is a little better overall than LeBron James. He’s a much better shooter, obviously, than LeBron James has ever been. Not a scorer, just shooter. And I believe he has been a little more clutch than LeBron has been able to be especially from the late-game free-throw line.”

While the team undoubtedly have the tools to emerge as the best in the Western Conference, they remain 4th and fans are yet to see the best of Durant. Bayless had initially put the Suns as his favorites in the Western Conference:

"I'm gonna move them past your MVP [Nikola] Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. I'm gonna move them past Ja [Morant] and the Memphis Grizzlies who have been playing at a supremely high level as we speak. I'm gonna move them past a Sacramento team that I am falling deeper and deeper in love with every time I watch them because they're fun to watch and they have arrived.