It was late on the East Coast, but a team scout was calling.
He’d just watched Phoenix rise back from a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit against Sacramento on Jan. 16, and for all of Kevin Durant’s shot-making brilliance, it was the 35-year-old’s smothering defense that left this personnel man raving about one of the game’s greatest scorers.
Once Suns head coach Frank Vogel pulled his center, Jusuf Nurkic, off the floor, Durant marked the lone man in Phoenix’s lineup standing above 6-foot-6. He had to guard Domantas Sabonis, the Kings’ star big, who’s bruising his way to a career-high and league-leading 13.