The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and Kevin Durant remains in Phoenix despite speculation around his future.
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But there could be collateral damage for the Suns being open for business. It’s not like Phoenix even really wanted to move Durant, but in some ways were backed into a corner.
The Durant-Devin Booker-Bradley Beal iteration of the Suns hasn’t worked, with the team hovering around the .500 mark despite the franchise going all in on this roster and using basically all its assets to put it together.
There’s a clear gap between the Suns and the true contenders in the west — a gap that’s only widened after several teams made big splashes at the deadline.
Phoenix was among those active teams, with its priority landing Jimmy Butler. But with Beal unwilling to waive his no-trade clause, the Suns were forced to explore other options.
After Booker, Durant was their best trade asset that had garnered genuine interest, plus the Suns were limited with what moves they could make being in the second apron and with basically all their salary cap tied up to their ‘Big Three’. So it made sense to at least take calls and gauge the market for the 36-year old Durant.
There was growing momentum of a Durant-Warriors reunion in a deal that would’ve netted Phoenix Butler, before that deal fell through after Durant reportedly shut it down.
Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers let slip that Memphis also had a crack at Durant, while Minnesota reportedly launched an 11th hour bid for the 15-time All-Star. There’d also been links to Dallas and Houston.
But the Suns opted to hang onto the superstar forward (for now) two years on from his arrival in Phoenix in a trade with Brooklyn that yielded a seriously steep price — Mikal Bridges (who eventually was traded for five first round picks), Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected first-round picks and 2028 first-round pick swap.
The Suns, clearly, are pot committed to Durant, who’s eligible for an extension this off-season and has one year remaining on his $50 million plus salary.
It was — and will continue to be — a delicate balancing act for Phoenix given Durant is their most valuable trade chip outside of Booker, yet putting him on the trade table risks infiltrating their culture.
They also risk losing leverage in future trades — the very thing Dallas wanted to avoid with Luka Doncic — particularly with Durant only contracted for one more season beyond this one.
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It’s also hard to trade a player on a $51 million deal no matter who they are. But the ripple effect of the last few days could now be significant for both Durant and the Suns organisation.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said she’d heard murmurs of a “toxic” vibe in Phoenix, with a “very awkward and weird” feeling at shootaround ahead of a blowout loss to Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday given the uncertainty of what was going to happen ahead of the trade deadline.
Myers, who recruited Durant to Golden State during its golden era, revealed the two recently caught up, where the superstar confirmed his commitment to Phoenix.
“I saw Kevin at a football game a few weeks ago and I asked him before all this, I said, ‘Hey, are you good? Are you happy?’” Myers said on ESPN.
“And he said to my face, ‘I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to be traded.’ And I believe it, I believe he has felt that way all along.
“But then when you hear your name being mentioned, for him at least I think it was a shock. He was kind of like, ‘I didn’t push for this, I didn’t ask for this.’
“But now if you’re Kevin, you’re sitting there going: ‘I am doing what you pay me to do — playing basketball at a very good, high rate. Now I’m hearing my name being mentioned (in trade rumours)’.
“He’s a human being. I imagine as a human being you’re kind of shaken up.”
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Myers went on to suggest Durant should now sit down with Suns ownership and have an “honest conversation” about where they stand.
“I want to see Kevin Durant compete for a championship and be on a good team, just like Steph Curry and LeBron James. We want to see all the stars on a team where they can compete for a championship,” Myers added.
Indeed, how the Suns and Durant move forward will be a fascinating storyline to watch as they try to get back on the same page and recover from a challenging situation for all parties.
Pick up the pieces and work out the best way forward while trying to win basketball games at the same time.
Unless the Suns can really turn things around, Durant will be a big watch next off-season and the possibility of him finding a new home.
“This summer is now going to be ‘we’re going to be eyeing Durant come this summer’,” NBA Insider Brian Windhorst said on NBA Today.
“For a year and a half now this triumvirate — Beal, Durant and Booker has not led to consistent winning. We don’t have to worry about what the Suns say about it, their actions say they don’t think it works because they tried to trade Beal until they were blue in the face then they tried to trade Durant.
“So this summer is going to be about Durant and his next home.”
The off-season could also open up more suitors, even if Durant is approaching 37 and nearing a contract year.
Houston has long been touted as the most obvious destination for Durant and other superstars given their plethora of assets and flexibility.
They could well be the team to watch this off-season for a possible Durant move, particularly given Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun’s contracts become tradeable, despite the rising Rockets sticking with their young core for now.
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“I think the Houston Rockets make the most sense. Because Houston has all of Phoenix’s draft picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029,” ESPN insider Bobby Marks said.
“If Phoenix wants a soft rebuild, that’s how you start doing it.”
All in all, it’s been a forgettable trade deadline for the Suns as they try and regroup and build back morale.
What could’ve been? In a perfect word, they could’ve swapped Beal for Butler and Jusuf Nurkic for Jonas Valanciunas and moved into the second half of the season with a dangerous roster capable of doing damage west.
Instead Phoenix didn’t do much at all outside of dumping Jusuf Nurkic’s salary to Charlotte in a move that meant the already assets-depleted Phoenix had to give up a first-round pick.
And so their desperation to shake up their roster blew up in their face and now risks their future direction.
If things don’t improve, questions will start getting asked of another superstar on their roster …
“This is a very fragile, awkward situation the Phoenix Suns have on their hands,” ESPN insider Tim McMahon said.
“The obvious next question is, as committed as Devin Booker is now, if the Suns can’t figure out how to get this thing in the right direction, how long will that last?
“He’s given no indication he wants anything but to play his entire career for the Phoenix Suns, but Damian Lillard was once 10 toes down in Portland as well.”
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