Klay Thompson vs. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant Returns To Golden State, Chris Paul plays his old team. There are a lot of story ideas for the Suns’ opening night matchup against the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center on October 24th.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!JUST IN: Opening Night schedule for the 2023-24 NBA season Oct. 24 on TNT, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium:
– Los Angeles Lakers @ Denver Nuggets
– Phoenix Suns @ Golden State Warriors— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 10, 2023
Believe it or not, if all things stay the same today, this will be the first time Kevin Durant is playing against his old team at Chase Center since he left the team back in 2018.
Durant won a pair of championships with Golden State back in 2016 and 2017. He then helped get the Warriors to a third championship before tearing his Achilles which eventually led him to leave the Warriors to join the Brooklyn Nets before eventually getting traded to the Phoenix Suns a couple of seasons later.
Kevin Durant in game 3 of the 2018 NBA finals:
43 points
13 rebounds
7 assistsNo one on the warriors had more than 11 points
pic.twitter.com/PsiEKQgrXN— DurantMuse (@DurantMuse_) July 28, 2023
As for ex-Suns player Chris Paul, he had a lot of success while being a member of the Suns. He averaged 15 points per game to go along with 10 assists per game and helped guide the Suns to their second-ever NBA Finals appearance as an organization.
36-year old Chris Paul in a close-out game 6 vs the Clippers in the 2021 playoffs:
41 PTS
4 REB
8 AST
3 STL
16-24 FG
7-8 3PPoint God. pic.twitter.com/UhiLV28AMv
— Booker Muse (@DevinBookerMuse) April 15, 2023
NBA’s Opening Night. Suns @ Warriors. We all know the history.
This is must-see TV. pic.twitter.com/A092xa8VeP
— Suns Are Better (@SunsAreBetter) August 10, 2023
Even without those two stories, the back-and-forth between Devin Booker and Klay Thompson last year was must-see TV during a Suns win against their first head-to-head matchup against the Warriors last season.
"They have four rings. Repeated over and over. And they do."
Devin Booker spoke on what Klay Thompson said in a heated exchange that led to Thompson's first-ever ejection.pic.twitter.com/trDgP5THrV
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) October 26, 2022
A few days ago, Thompson ended up apologizing for this banter on Paul George’s podcast which shows that both Booker and Thompson respect each other and their games.
Only Devin Booker’s soft ass would get mad about this Klay Thompson quote on Paul George’s podcast pic.twitter.com/AolZcyj86D
— Beastbrook (@Beastbr00k0) August 9, 2023
Corbin Carroll discusses childhood memories of watching KD with the SuperSonics
It’s crazy to think that both teams never met each other in the postseason over the last three seasons. Hopefully, this is the season where the two teams don’t just meet on opening night and in the regular season, but later on down the road in the Western Conference Finals.
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Franklin Miller is a sports insider and general assignment reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @millersports3
