Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant “definitely could be” traded after this season with six teams interested in him at the trade deadline, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday.
“Back at the NBA trade deadline, there was a list of teams that there was mutual interest with Kevin Durant,” Charania said on “The Pat MacAfee Show” on Wednesday. “Those teams, from my understanding, are Minnesota, that’s New York, Houston, San Antonio and Miami.
“Those are the types of teams, from my understanding, that had interest then, and I expect them all to be in the mix this offseason. But the biggest thing to keep an eye on for all NBA fans and fans of those teams is: How does your team finish in the playoffs? How do the playoffs go? Because that’s going to really determine who feels like they’re a Kevin Durant away.”
Nixed Warriors Reunion
Among those six teams, the Golden State Warriors were close to trading for Durant but the Suns star nixed a reunion with his former team when he caught wind of the trade talks from back channels.
Durant later revealed on the “Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis” that he did not want to get traded midseason. The offseason is a different story.
So Durant stayed in Phoenix in the hopes things get better in the second half of the season. But it turned for the worse.
The Suns’ nightmare season is just six games away from its merciful end. They are 1.5 games outside of the play-in tournament with the toughest schedule remaining. Durant’s left ankle sprain might be the final nail in their coffin.
Suns ‘Will Work’ With Kevin Durant in Future Trade
They started their difficult three-game road trip with a 133-123 loss to the Damian Lillard-less Milwaukee Bucks without Durant, who stayed behind in Phoenix to rehab his ankle.
“So you look at this from a macro perspective,” Charania said on “The Pat McAfee Show. “We’ve seen from Mat Ishbia the last two and a half years how aggressive he’s been. He is not spared any expenses. He’s clearly showing that, as an NBA owner, he’s willing to take multiple swings. He wants to take millions of swings at the bat to try to win a championship.”
The Suns entered the season with high expectations on Year 2 of the Durant-Devin Booker–Bradley Beal Big 3 experiment. With less than two weeks left in the regular season, they resemble a lottery team except that their first-round pick in this year’s draft is heading to the second-seed Houston Rockets.
“From a wholistic perspective, there’s going to be changes coming to Phoenix, barring a miracle finish to the year,” Charania continued. “There’s going to be a lot of that. They’re going to have to look at, to evaluate throughout the organization, from a roster perspective. That’s going to start with Kevin Durant and potentially finding him a new home. Unlike at the trade deadline, when he was almost traded to the Warriors, the Suns and Kevin Durant would work together on any trade.”
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