Suns forward Kevin Durant reacts after a shot against the Mavericks in the second half.

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phoenix — The last time the Suns played an official game at Footprint Center, they were on a banana peel, losing four straight to Minnesota in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. Frank Vogel called it “disappointing” and added “there’s no other way to express it.”

He was the head coach at the time. Not now.

To say the Suns are now moving on to bigger goals would be understating the obvious. If it’s possible to have a sense of urgency in a home opener, that was the case Saturday, when the Suns appeared eager to set a tone for 2024-25.

The first sign was concerning: Bradley Beal was out with elbow soreness on a team that dealt with injuries for much of last season.

But at the end of the night, after a comprehensive if not dominant defeat by the Mavericks, all was well.

Here are five takeaways from this. 114-102 result and the Suns’ hope of returning home became commonplace.

1. Durant reaches milestone

He didn’t need to drop 31 points to secure his place among the all-time leading scorers in NBA history, but it did bolster his reputation.

Kevin Durant’s team performance allowed him to score over 29,000 points in his career. Only seven people managed to surpass that threshold, and Durant is still being suspended.

He is truly a scoring prodigy, comfortable all over the court and not one-dimensional in any way. At 36, Durant looks like he has two or three golden years left, maybe more because shooters are traditionally the last to fade away.

“This is a tribute to generations of talent,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He gets to great spots to be able to shoot and score against great defenses. “He’s done that for almost his entire career.”

2. Are the Mavs eyeing a tougher road?

Dallas reaching the NBA Finals last season was rightfully seen as a turning point for the team under Luka Dončić. Kyrie Irving arrived to give him a role mate, the Mavs added help from the front line at the trade deadline and found themselves playing in June.

But in another way, the Mavs benefited from health; their own health conditions and the injuries suffered by the other competitors, namely the team that beat them on Saturday.

Devin Booker, Durant and Beal played together for a full half of the 2023-24 regular season. The Suns posted a 26-15 record in those games. If the three core stars had remained fairly healthy, Phoenix would have won 50+ games and enjoyed a more favorable playoff seeding and matchups.

And it’s not just the Suns; The Grizzlies also suffered numerous injuries and failed to make the playoffs despite winning more than 50 games in each of the previous two seasons.

Assuming good health this season, the competition just got tougher for Dallas. So too have the Mavs’ chances of repeating as West champions.

3. Dunn’s value comes to light in Beal’s absence

There’s nothing to worry about for the Suns; Beal dealt with a sore left elbow and decided to rest. Yet he missed 29 games last season, when a lack of depth cost Phoenix dearly.

With Beal out on Saturday, Budenholzer decided to draft a rookie, the Suns’ first-round pick, Ryan Dunn, whose job it was to guard Luka.

Cold facts? Dunn held Luka to 40 points.

But it went beyond the actual numbers. Dunn was actually impressive, or as impressive as a rookie could get against the league’s leading scorer and MVP candidate last season.

The Suns traded up to take Dunn at No. 28. He is 1.80 meters tall, came with defensive qualities and shined in the preseason. Ideally, he’ll provide what the Suns lost when they traded away Mikal Bridges — incidentally for Durant.

“Great night for Ryan,” Budenholzer said. “This is one of the best players in the league he’s going up against. He gets the chance to enter the laboratory and learn from it. His defense and athleticism were positives. His 3 in the fourth was huge. He shoots with confidence.”

Dunn is valuable to the Suns in another way, too; in financial terms. A rookie who signed a cheap contract with a team that had a three-player package. Adding better players in trades is a challenge for such teams, and free agency is out of the question.

It’s better to be able to draft and develop around Durant, Beal and Booker. In this sense, Dunn is already an asset.

4. The Bosnian Monster returns

Jusuf Nurkić looked shaky the other night in Los Angeles against Anthony Davis, who did everything he wanted to do in the Lakers’ comeback victory.

So Nurk needed another chance to make an impression at the start of the season, and he did so in a very emphatic way. Nurk was the most impactful player on the floor for the Suns, other than Durant.

The fact that he did it against the Mavs’ collection of big men made it even more impressive. Nurkić had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and there was little Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington or Dereck Lively II could have done to prevent it.

“He is a great teammate and a competitor,” Budenholzer said. “He wanted to come back and make a positive impact for us, and he did.”

Nurkić said: “My goal was just to play better, to help us win. That’s the important thing.”

5. All is well between Klay, Luka and Kyrie

The chemistry lesson is taught successfully from every angle and with the only voice that matters.

Klay Thompson’s connection with Luka and Kyrie Irving has been ideal from the beginning and it’s only getting smoother.

“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “A chance to be with great players and a great organization.”

Thompson looks like a good fit through two games: shooting 11-for-22 from deep and averaging 20 points. There’s always a transition period when key players are brought together for the first time, but judging by the small sample size so far, it looks as if they’ve been teammates for years.

“We can grow from this and get a lot better, and it’s really good right now,” Thompson said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement. I’m very encouraged by our trust in each other and what our potential can be.”

Thank Luka for this. As an MVP candidate and point guard, he comforted Klay and quickly worked to learn his shooter’s tendencies.

“It’s an easy job,” Klay said. “He’s great.”

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Shaun Powell has been in the NBA for over 25 years. You can email him Hereto find archive here And follow him on x.

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