Around-the-league NBA notes on a Sunday?

On the first Sunday that this weekly feature was preceded by a couple Intel-laden columns from Jake Fischer?

As it should be!

To the latest from my notebook on Kevin Durant, updates on Houston, Durant’s former Nets teammate Kyrie Irving, rookie standouts Jared McCain and Dalton Knecht, Pat Riley and lots more:

In a sitdown interview with ESPN this week, Suns owner Mat Ishbia told the network that he fully expects Kevin Durant to sign a contract extension in the offseason that will keep the future Hall of Famer in the desert.

Durant will be eligible for a two-year deal worth $120 million after the season and Ishbia has made no secret of his desire that the 36-year-old retires as a Sun.

“Kevin wants to be here; we want Kevin here,” Ishbia said. “There’s never been one grumbling of anything different.”

It was in June, remember, that ESPN painted Houston as a team determined to trade for Durant down the road. Through that lens, Ishbia’s interview theoretically could be interpreted as a blow to such ambitions.

It has been stressed to me, though, that any such interpretation would be incorrect.