Kevin Durant to play before Warriors fans for first time since leaving as Suns open season at Golden State
Kevin Durant hasn’t played before Golden State Warriors fans since his final season with the team in 2018-19.
He’ll get that opportunity on opening night this season.
The Phoenix Suns will play at Chase Center against the Warriors to begin the 2023-24 season on Oct. 24 on TNT, league sources confirmed Thursday evening to The Arizona Republic.
This will also mark Chris Paul’s first regular-season game against the Suns since they traded him last month to the Wizards, who later dealt the 12-time All-Star to Golden State for Jordan Poole.
The Athletic first reported the news as the Denver Nuggets will receive their NBA championship rings on opening night before playing the Los Angeles Lakers, who they swept in the Western Conference finals.
The NBA is expected to release its full 2023-24 schedule as early as next week.
Durant had a season-ending Achilles injury in the 2019 finals that Golden State lost to the Toronto Raptors after winning back-to-back NBA championships and finals MVPs as he and Stephen Curry led the Warriors past Cleveland Cavaliers twice.
He left Golden State for Brooklyn in a sign-and-trade and missed the entire 2019-20 season working his way back from injury. He returned in 2020-21 and played against the Warriors on Feb. 13, 2021, at Golden State, but fans didn’t attend as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Golden State played a video tribute for Durant during that return game. At the time, the Warriors said they planned to do it again for his next visit to Chase Center when fans returned to the arena.
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Durant missed out on two opportunities after that while with the Nets as he was injured each time on Jan. 29, 2022 (knee injury) and Jan. 23, 2023 (right MCL sprain).
Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams face each other twice a season home and away.
Less than a month after that Jan. 23 game, the Suns traded for Durant in a blockbuster deal that involved Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson right before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
Durant returned from the knee injury on March 1 and made his Phoenix debut against Charlotte. The Suns won their first three games with him in the lineup.
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He was looking to make his Suns home debut on March 8 against Oklahoma City, but Durant suffered an ankle injury during pregame warmups.
This happened two games before Phoenix played March 13 at Golden State.
Durant wound up missing 10 games that included the matchup against the Warriors. The Suns will now open the 2023-24 season at Golden State and Durant will finally get a chance to play before the Warriors fans.
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns opener at Golden State Warriors has Kevin Durant, Chris Paul storylines
