Kevin Durant will return to a familiar uniform number when he joins the Phoenix Suns. Boardroom announced that Durant will wear No. 35 with the Suns, which is the same number that he wore when he was a member of the Seattle SuperSonics, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Golden State Warriors earlier in his career.
BREAKING: Kevin Durant will wear No. 35 with the Phoenix Suns. pic.twitter.com/GEwwR22ebL
— Boardroom (@boardroom) February 9, 2023
Durant has worn No. 7 during his past three seasons with the Brooklyn Nets.
On Thursday, the Suns acquired Durant and T.J. Warren from the Nets in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected future first round picks, and a 2028 pick swap. Shortly after acquiring Crowder, the Nets traded Crowder to the Milwaukee Bucks for five second round picks, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
Durant had a large amount of success while wearing No. 35 earlier in his career.
The star forward won the league MVP during the 2013-14 season as a member of the Thunder. Durant also helped the Warriors secure two NBA titles and he earned NBA Finals MVP honors in both of those NBA Finals when wearing No. 35.
During the 2019 NBA Finals, Durant suffered a torn Achilles and missed the final two games of the series against the Toronto Raptors. After the Warriors lost the series, Durant decided to sign with the Nets in free agency and joined forces with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn.
Despite being aligned with Irving and James Harden for a brief period, the Nets didn't advance past the Eastern Conference Semifinals in either of Durant's two full seasons in Brooklyn.
Now Durant will move on to team up with the likes of Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Deandre Ayton with the Suns. He'll be added to a roster that came extremely close to winning an NBA title back in 2021 and has a chance to do so this season in a wide-open Western Conference.
