Suns Forward Kevin Durant Projected to Make All-NBA Third Team

Injuries - like mostly everybody else on the Phoenix Suns - have held Kevin Durant back from reaching top accolades this season.

It's hard not to imagine the likes of Kevin Durant or Devin Booker landing on one of the top All-NBA teams considering how talented the newly formed Phoenix Suns duo is, yet the massive injuries for both stars might just make that reality. 

Booker missed over 20 games with a groin injury. Durant missed six weeks with a sprained MCL and even more time with a sprained ankle after he arrived to Phoenix. 

Nobody doubts just how good both players are, yet the lack of games played for both players will come to haunt them in voting, 

Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes projected the three All-NBA teams, and Durant sneaks into the third and final team, edging out Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James:

Suns Forward Kevin Durant Projected to Make All-NBA Third Team

"He was a no-questions-asked MVP candidate early in the year and may still head the list of guys whom defenders would least like to face in a playoff series. With averages of 29.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.5 blocks on a preposterous 56.6/38.6/93.1 shooting split, Durant's truncated season rates among the best of his career," said Hughes.

"Unparalleled efficiency as a wing scorer, noticeably dialed-in defensive intensity and the smoothest three-level bucket-getting skills around should have made KD a first-team pick. A pair of injuries cut into his playing time and forced a compromise. Maybe this isn't the fairest way to frame it, but it'll be impossible to look back at the 2022-23 season and argue Durant wasn't among the best six players, let alone forwards, in the league."

Booker - a first team All-NBA nod last year - didn't crack any of the three teams. 

Third Team

Donovan Mitchell
De'Aaron Fox
Kevin Durant
Lauri Markkanen
Anthony Davis

Second Team

Damian Lillard
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Jimmy Butler
Kawhi Leonard
Joel Embiid

First Team

Luka Doncic
Stephen Curry
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Jayson Tatum
Nikola Jokic