Kevin Durant gets 100% real on Nikola Jokic making history vs. Suns
Yesterday at 01:11 PM
As the Phoenix Suns lost to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, it was off the back of him who recorded the first ever triple-double with at least 30 points, 20 rebounds, and 20 assists. With the Suns looking for a playoff push, star Kevin Durant spoke after the loss specifically about Jokic and the history-making performance he had against them.
Jokic would finish with 31 points, 21 rebounds, and a whopping 22 assists, which is also the most recorded by a center in NBA history. Durant would go as far as to say that he was “actually surprised” Jokic hadn’t had a statline like that before in his career and already considers him an “all-time great.”
"There's so many possessions in a game, the whole offense is centered around him making a play. I'm actually surprised he hasn't done this before, but he's been so close, he's an all-time great, all-time great," Durant said. "Crazy thing is he didn't seem like he had those numbers. I looked up at the end over the overtime and was like, 'oh shoot, that's crazy.' I feel like we made him work for most of his stuff tonight. But he gets the ball every play, so the numbers are going to pile up after a while, especially when it goes to overtime."
“The whole offense is centered around [Nikola Jokic] making a play. I’m actually kind of surprised he hasn’t done this before… He gets the ball every play, so the numbers are gonna pile up.”
— Kevin Durant
(via @DNVR_Nuggets)pic.twitter.com/dp8dkJjZF5https://t.co/UoRicdzVRt
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 8, 2025
Suns’ Kevin Durant on the greatness of Nikola Jokic
This wouldn’t be the first time that the Suns star in Durant spoke highly of Jokic, but after witnessing literal history with his own eyes, it was hard for him not to speak of the big man’s performances. The 36-year-old would speak about gameplanning against a player like Jokic is just to “play hard and see what happens” according to DenverSports.com.
"He's an all-time great, you're not going to take nothing away from him. He averages that for a reason. Just playing hard, and we can live with him hitting shots when we're playing hard. He's just Jokic; he makes shots," Durant said after the loss. "I'm not saying any part of his game is weak or we're living with anything. Players like that, you just gotta play hard and see what happens."
Durant also spoke about how Jokic isn’t an “underdog” in terms of MVP voting and is glad he doesn’t have to vote between him and Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
"He's not an underdog, I'm not going to keep letting you do that, he's never an underdog in any situation—stop. Never an underdog again, that was out the window with his first MVP," Durant said on Friday. "I don't think that's fair at all, voter fatigue. If a guy is balling out, he's balling out. I'm glad I don't have to make that decision between him and Shai, but there shouldn't be voter fatigue. Both of those guys have a great chance at the MVP, it'll be a race down to the wire.”
Phoenix is currently 29-34 which puts them seventh in the West before Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
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