Before we jump into any Kevin Durant trades, this cannot be stressed enough: The Phoenix Suns aren’t trading Durant — or any member of the Big 3 — this summer. Nor should they, given how much the league’s new tax aprons limit trade flexibility across the NBA
There are a variety of other reasons beyond that, of course. Durant is coming off a Second Team All-NBA season where he put up 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 blocks per game on absurd .523/.413/.856 shooting splits…all while doubling as the Suns’ best wing defender. For all the talk about “leadership” and “body language,” KD is still an elite two-way superstar, and you don’t trade a player like that after 17 months just because the immediate returns weren’t “Larry O’Brien trophy.”
Phoenix is more all-in on a championship than anyone, but the only way Kevin Durant is getting traded is if he requests one. Contrary to what the national talking heads would have you believe, Durant wants to win here in the Valley. Everyone’s understandably frustrated with the way the season went and how it ended in a first-round sweep, but there’s been zero indication KD wants out.
However, we’ve done trade scenarios for the other six Suns players currently under contract, and today’s Kevin Durant trades simply serve as the final chapter of our weekly thought experiment. This is not meant to suggest what Phoenix should do, but rather, it’s an effort to determine what other team’s offers for these players might look like, what’s possible under the new CBA, and why Phoenix’s best option is to run it back while tweaking the roster on the margins.
By process of elimination, it’s natural to wonder about a Durant trade. Devin Booker is the face of the franchise and is eight years younger, while Bradley Beal‘s massive contract and no-trade clause would make it difficult to find a suitable deal even if the Suns wanted to move him. That leaves Durant among the Big 3, but it’s easy for disgruntled Suns fans to shout “Trade KD! Blow it up! before realizing how difficult it is for a second tax apron team like Phoenix to find sensible deals that are actually realistic:
For those reasons, we’re seeing this exercise through to the end with some Kevin Durant trades, even if we know none of them will happen. As we’ve done the last six times, here are the disclaimers:
- These trades are not what I think the Suns should or shouldn’t do, but rather, an exercise to show what’s possible under the current CBA. We’re simply trying to paint a picture of what is and isn’t realistic in the event a specific player gets traded, or in this case, what other team’s offers for Durant might look like.
- Remember, Phoenix can’t combine salaries in any trade, nor can they take back additional money in any trade. In any hypothetical KD trade, the Suns would not be allowed to take back a single dollar more than his 2024-25 salary ($51,179,021).
- To that end, I went through all 29 other teams’ books to figure out which contracts legally work in Kevin Durant trades before narrowing it down to deals that might actually make sense (even if none of them will happen).
- Unless otherwise indicated, the trade targets included here are not based on sourced information.
- To be fair to everyone involved, we did one of these articles for all seven Suns players under contract (Nassir Little, David Roddy, Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and now Durant). So if you came here mad about this article’s mere existence, I’m going to assume you’re reading these disclaimers for the first time because I explicitly sent you to this section. Reading before commenting — it used to be a thing!
If you still have questions about the second tax apron or why Phoenix’s best course is to run it back, ESPN’s Bobby Marks joined the PHNX Suns Podcast recently to answer plenty of questions on those topics. If not, let’s dive in, starting with some deals we can rule out right away.
Unrealistic Kevin Durant trades we can rule out immediately
There are a few trade scenarios we can rule out beforehand, and since the whole point of this exercise is being thorough, it’s important to show a few examples that are either impossible or highly unrealistic.
The defending champion Boston Celtics are a second tax apron team, so even in the event they decided to reach out about a superstar upgrade, they couldn’t aggregate salaries (i.e. Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis for KD). And since neither the Celtics nor the Suns could accept more salary in a trade, if Boston for some reason offered Jaylen Brown for KD, they’d have to loop in a third team, with Phoenix getting Brown, the third team getting Durant and Boston getting a player (or players) with a salary that’s less than Brown’s $49.3 million for next season. Not happening!
In a similar vein, stars like Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kawhi Leonard wouldn’t work without looping in a third team, since all three of them play for teams projected to be in the tax apron. Durant is the best/healthiest player of that group, so trading him straight up for one of those guys wouldn’t make sense even if it was legal.
Let’s say Eastern Conference teams on the rise like the Indiana Pacers or Orlando wanted to swing for the fences by adding KD.
From a salary standpoint, a package of Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Wendell Carter Jr. and Jonathan Isaac works, but that’s a lot of young depth for Orlando to sacrifice for one player, and Phoenix couldn’t offer them other players as part of the same deal since they can’t aggregate salaries. The Magic would be gutting their young core just to pair a 35-year-old Durant and Paolo Banchero together, and they’d likely hesitate on moving Wagner at all.
Something similar could be said for the Pacers if they offered up Myles Turner, Aaron Nesmith, T.J. McConnell and Bennedict Mathurin. They’d have more of an established foundation to build upon with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, but they’d lose vital role players in the process. That type of deal may not move the needle enough for Phoenix either, because even with draft picks heaped on any KD trade package, the Suns would still want to contend for a title sooner rather than later.
We already made our Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson joke last week, so we won’t make it again here. Maybe a Domantas Sabonis and Davion Mitchell deal would make sense, but KD and De’Aaron Fox alone wouldn’t be enough for the Sacramento Kings to contend.
Similarly, teams like the Washington Wizards (Kyle Kuzma, Deni Avdija, Corey Kispert and picks), Toronto Raptors (Bruce Brown, Jakob Poeltl, Jalen McDaniels and picks) and Portland Trail Blazers (Jerami Grant, Robert Williams III, Toumani Camara and a pick) could technically put together legal offers, but none of them moves the needle enough for Phoenix, and not one of those teams makes sense as a KD suitor, since they wouldn’t be ready to contend right away.
There are more possibilities that the tax apron would prevent due to all these restrictions:
For example, even if the Minnesota Timberwolves offered up a package like Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Mike Conley, they can’t aggregate salaries as a second tax apron team, and they can’t take back more salary than they’re sending out. The Los Angeles Lakers would have to duck the tax apron entirely to make Anthony Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino for KD work, and even then, the deal couldn’t go through until August, one year after AD signed his new extension.
LeBron James for KD straight up doesn’t work either. If James opts into his $51.4 million player option, he’d be making more than Durant, which means the Suns couldn’t take back his salary unless they were under the apron. If James opts out, a sign-and-trade wouldn’t work either, since Phoenix is not allowed to add players via sign-and-trade.
Now that we’ve ruled out some of the more popular names that inevitably come up in this type of discussion, here are 10 Kevin Durant trades that would make more sense (assuming we ignore our initial premise that Durant won’t and shouldn’t be traded).
Kevin Durant trades that wouldn’t move the needle enough
1. Houston Rockets
The Rockets are in win-now mode, and ESPN’s Jonathan Givony mentioned Durant among a handful of stars they’d consider packaging the third overall pick for. Givony was quick to point out some of those names are more far-fetched, and Durant’s name certainly qualifies there.
That still applies after Tuesday night’s trade, where Houston acquired a 2025 Suns pick swap, a 2027 Suns first-rounder and the more favorable of Dallas and Phoenix’s first-round picks in 2029 from the Brooklyn Nets — picks the Nets acquired in last year’s KD deal.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski spelled out the Rockets’ desires in plain English: They want Kevin Durant, and getting him is theoretically easier if they can offer Phoenix some of their own picks back.
With that being said, this smells like pure speculation or wishful thinking on Houston’s part more than anything. But let’s ignore the fact that the Suns want to keep KD and that Durant wants to stay in Phoenix for a second, and instead entertain what a Rockets deal would look like. Would an offer of Fred VanVleet, Jae’Sean Tate, the third overall pick and getting all those Suns picks back be enticing enough to pull the trigger?
In short, no. VanVleet is a good player, but he’s 30 years old and is undersized at 6 feet tall. If you thought the Suns were short before, imagine them losing their best two-way wing and getting even smaller, all to add a point guard simply for the sake of adding a point guard. VanVleet averaged a respectable 17.4 points and 8.1 assists per game on 38.7 percent shooting from deep, but he only shot 41.6 percent overall. Despite his pesky point-of-attack defense, a backcourt of him, Booker and Beal would be woefully undersized.
Jae’Sean Tate may be a forward, but he’s undersized himself as a 6-foot-4 wing, and his minutes in Houston have been on the decline for three straight years now. Adding a top-3 pick never hurts, and getting some of their own draft capital back is nice, but there is no “being made whole again” after giving up Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and all those picks and pick swaps. The Suns’ version of “whole” is keeping a Second Team All-NBA performer who gives them a championship window.
Outside of VanVleet’s $42.8 million salary, the Rockets would have trouble reaching the adequate salary threshold on a trade without including Dillon Brooks’ $22.2 million. Would this type of offer be closer, with those three Suns/Nets picks tacked on?
Brooks can be a divisive figure, but he’s a physically imposing wing defender who had a better year than his last tumultuous season with the Grizzlies. The 28-year-old put up 12.7 points per game while shooting 35.7 percent from 3, so while he’s not the most consistent weapon on offense, he’s a legitimate two-way role player who provides toughness and defensive grit.
Aside from the picks, Amen Thompson would be the real prize, since the 21-year-old rookie looks the part of a future two-way stud. He put up 9.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game in his first NBA season, shooting 53.6 percent from the field. He was a dreadful 13.8 percent from deep, but the athleticism, size and elite defensive skill-set he’d bring to the table would make him a great long-term fit anywhere.
The Suns would get a fan favorite and quality reserve back in Jock Landale, and they’d also add Tari Eason, a 6-foot-8 forward who’s showed promise. The 23-year-old put up 9.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game last year, while shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3.
However, as much as the Suns would be getting younger and directly addressing their need for depth, size and defense on the wing, this type of deal wouldn’t really push them any closer to contention, which is the whole point. Even a different look, with the Suns getting a young star in Alperen Sengun, is only acceptable with a more long-term view:
There’s nothing wrong with planning for the future, and to be fair, Sengun is terrific. In his age-20 season, the 6-foot-11 center averaged 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game, all while shooting 53.7 percent from the floor. He’s not the most athletic guy in the gym, but his combination of ball-handling, playmaking, post moves, touch and basketball IQ are really impressive for a now 21-year-old.
The problem is, the Rockets would likely hesitate to include Sengun in this type of deal, and the 21-year-old Jabari Smith Jr. doesn’t move the needle much. Despite averaging 13.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in his second season, Smith still has a ways to go before he starts living up to his status as the former No. 3 overall pick.
There are a bunch of different combinations of salaries Houston could compile on top of Brooks to get there, but most likely, they’d resist including Sengun, Thompson and/or Jalen Green if at all possible. Sengun, young wings with potential, and a hoard of picks isn’t a terrible hypothetical return for Phoenix, but these Rockets deals are the types of moves that only make sense if the Suns were forced to move him somewhere later on — and to be clear one more time, that is NOT the case at present.
2. San Antonio Spurs
Let’s ignore, for a minute, the fact that Durant is 35 years old and the Spurs shouldn’t rush as they build around Victor Wembanyama. If San Antonio wants to accelerate their timeline and add established talent, there aren’t many players in this league better-suited for that task than Kevin Durant.
Would the Spurs be prepared to contend for titles after this trade? Absolutely not. They’d have cap space to add to their Slenderman core of KD and Wemby, but they’d still have a ways to go in fleshing out the rest of that roster. Even with his respect for both Wembanyama and Gregg Popovich, it’s hard to picture Durant wanting to wait for this team’s rise to prominence, since it’d likely take longer than he can afford.
As for the Suns, Devin Vassell is a 23-year-old with All-Star potential. He averaged 19.5 points and 4.1 assists per game on .472/.372/.801 shooting splits last year, and he’s got good size at 6-foot-5. But he’s not a point guard, and the Suns are fully stocked in the 2-guard department.
Zach Collins is a decent rotation big, but he’s not a starting-caliber upgrade from Jusuf Nurkic. Even with this year’s No. 8 pick and a 2025 first-rounder from the Atlanta Hawks attached, this first scenario doesn’t really help Phoenix get closer to championship contention. The Suns would probably push for something more like this:
Vassell and the picks stay the same, but this time, the Suns replace Durant on the wing with Keldon Johnson, a bully-ball driver who put up 15.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in his age-24 season. Johnson shot 45.4 percent overall but could still improve as a long distance shooter, since he only made 34.6 percent of his 3s.
As much as the Suns would add younger talent in Vassell and Johnson, be able to draft someone like Devin Carter with the eighth overall pick, and recoup some draft capital with that 2025 first-rounder, they’d still lose this trade in terms of maximizing Booker’s championship window. The Spurs aren’t trading for Durant as they’re currently built anyway.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
This has been a popular hypothetical destination for KD since the Suns were eliminated from the playoffs. And it makes sense, since the Oklahoma City Thunder are a legitimate contender with enough cap space, youth and draft capital to pull off a blockbuster trade for a superstar — especially one who used to call OKC home.
However, considering Durant’s age, the Thunder would likely keep Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren right next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the “untouchable” category. As a recently traded player, Alex Caruso cannot be aggregated as part of another trade for 60 days. So instead, OKC would opt for Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Kenrich Williams, Isaiah Joe and a heap of draft picks to try and make Phoenix whole.
Like many of these hypothetical deals, this one would require patience on Booker and the Suns’ part, accepting a temporary step backward in order to recoup assets and try to put themselves on a higher trajectory. Whether such a trajectory exists in the wake of a Kevin Durant trade is another conversation, but in this scenario, Phoenix adds depth and physical wing defense with Dort; youth and upside with Wallace; a Swiss Army knife off the bench in Kenny Hustle; a young sharpshooter in Joe; and four first-rounders.
The draft capital would be the main asset in this deal, giving the Suns assets they could either flip for immediate upgrades, or picks they could hold onto, since most of them come in years where Phoenix currently does not own a pick. Those first-rounders would include this year’s No. 12 overall pick, a top-6 protected 2025 pick from the Philadelphia 76ers, a 2027 first-rounder from the Denver Nuggets, and OKC’s 2029 first-rounder.
But as nice as it’d be to refill the draft cupboard, Dort being the best player in a Kevin Durant trade would make this an automatic nonstarter. Unless the Thunder were willing to put Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren on the table, this would be too much of a step backward for Phoenix.
Warmer, but still not good enough
4. New Orleans Pelicans
So far, the only All-Star in any of these scenarios has been Fred VanVleet. A trade with the New Orleans Pelicans would rectify that, since it’d almost certainly involve the readily available Brandon Ingram.
Last year, Ingram put up 20.8 points, 5.7 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 49.2 percent overall and 35.5 percent from 3. His game has been a divisive topic in New Orleans for a while now, but he showed against the Suns in 2022 how potent he can be in a playoff setting. Ingram has great length to defend on the wing, he’d be a great secondary or tertiary scoring option, and in three of the last five years, he’s shot better than 38 percent from deep.
Larry Nance Jr. would provide the Suns with a change-of-pace option as a small-ball center, while everyone knows what Jose Alvarado brings as a defensive nuisance and improved 3-point shooter (37.7 percent last year). Aside from depth, Phoenix would get younger between Ingram (26), Nance (31) and Alvarado (26). On top of all that, the Pels throw in a 2027 first-rounder they’re owed from the Milwaukee Bucks.
However, as much as Ingram would give the Suns a similar kind of wing to replace Durant, there have been understandable questions about how much Ingram actually impacts winning. There are also concerns about what his next contract might look like in 2025, as well as his inability to stay healthy, since he’s played 64, 45, 55, 61 and 62 games over the last five years in NOLA.
If this package wouldn’t cut it (and spoiler alert, it wouldn’t), Phoenix might counter with something more like this:
The Suns would replenish their wing depth in a hurry between Ingram and Herb Jones, who serves as one of the NBA best defensive wings, is still only 25 years old, and shot 41.8 percent from 3 last year. New Orleans is prioritizing Trey Murphy, which means Ingram and Jones would be the more available options in this type of trade.
On top of that, Phoenix gets the Pelicans’ 21st overall pick in this year’s draft, which they could either combine with No. 22 to move up in the pecking order, or use to select a player while simultaneously trading down from No. 22 to acquire more draft capital.
Either way, is this enough to raise the Suns’ championship prospects? Ingram and Jones are both great players who would give Phoenix a lot more size and wing depth, but they certainly wouldn’t make them favorites in the West in their first year together, and Ingram routinely misses 20-30 games ever year.
5. New York Knicks
There are a plethora of options that would make the trade math work for the New York Knicks, who would salivate over adding a player of KD’s caliber to Jalen Brunson and the core of this 2-seed in the East. The problem is they’re currently projected to be a first apron team and would need to duck below that line before making this type of move.
If they could find a way to do that…well, there’s still the inherent problem that Phoenix would covet OG Anunoby, and he’s set to opt out of his player option to either re-sign with the Knicks or test free agency. Either way, he’d be off the table for the Suns at that point, depriving them of the only centerpiece in a Kevin Durant Knicks trade that’d be worth discussing.
Julius Randle and Anunoby would work financially if he opted in, as would Anunoby, Donte DiVincenzo and Mitchell Robinson. If those options were off the table, a package of Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic and a heap of picks is probably where New York would try to start the conversation.
Randle is a better player than he’s given credit for, earning two All-NBA selections while being a nightly 22-10-5 guy over the last four years. He’d put pressure on the rim with his bully ball drives, hit the boards hard and provide the Suns with their most aggressive interior presence in years.
Bogdanovic has a lot more trade value a year ago, but he’s still an additional shot creator on the wing who put up 15.2 points per game on 39.8 percent shooting from long range, taking nearly six 3s a night. On top of that, the Suns would land the No. 24 and No. 38 picks in this year’s draft, plus a top-4 protected 2025 first-rounder from Milwaukee, a 2025 second-rounder from Brooklyn, and the Knicks’ first-rounders in 2027 and 2029.
The trouble is, Randle and Bogey have both had problems staying healthy lately, and since both are getting older (Randle is 29, Bogdanovic is 35), that problem is unlikely to improve. Another alternative would be Randle, Josh Hart and draft picks:
Hart is one of the best rebounding guards in the league who can defend multiple positions and plays with a chip on his shoulder. He’s been an inconsistent 3-point shooter over the years, but even if he’s more of a 2-guard at 6-foot-4, the Suns could use a two-way wing who plays with heart (pun intended).
With that being said, this still doesn’t move the needle enough for Phoenix unless they’re content with restocking picks in a Durant trade. There are other alternatives with New York, like Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride and picks, or a package of Hart, Robinson, DiVincenzo and picks, but Robinson is too injury-prone to move the needle much and DiVincenzo is yet another shooting guard.
A core of Brunson, Durant, Anunoby and hard-working role players under Tom Thibodeau is fun for Knicks fans to fantasize about, but without Anunoby, it’s hard to find a deal that would properly compensate Phoenix, even with a mountain of draft picks attached.
6. Golden State Warriors
Since the Warriors are another second tax apron team, they’d have to shed significant salary in order to make this move without requiring a third party. Renouncing Klay Thompson (who may very well leave in free agency) and Chris Paul (whose $30 million non-guaranteed contract becomes guaranteed on Friday) would get them below the apron so they could aggregate outgoing salaries and take back more money than they send out.
In this first scenario, let’s ignore that the Suns would immediately have to find a separate trade for Jusuf Nurkic (for obvious reasons). They’d be getting a replacement wing in Andrew Wiggins, plus one of the most intelligent defenders in the NBA in Draymond Green. Green’s antics reached all-time untenable levels over the last two years, but he’s still a prolific defender, an excellent playmaker in the short roll and a fiery competitor. The Dubs would tack on first-round picks in 2025 and 2027 to reunite KD and Stephen Curry.
However, this exchange would leave both teams on the wrong end of where they’d like to be. Curry and Durant have proven to be one of the most unstoppable duos in NBA history, but in order to make it happen, they’d have to lose Draymond, Klay, Wiggins and CP3, without the cap space to replace the depth around them.
The Suns, meanwhile, would be adding a very average wing in Wiggins — whose numbers dipped to 13.2 points per game on .453/.358/.751 shooting splits last year — and a potential headcase in Green. Both are capable, two-way role players, but with Green being 34 years old and Wiggins being 29, they don’t have a ton of runway left. Perhaps an emphasis on more depth at positions of need would be a bigger help:
In place of Draymond and the 2027 first-rounder, the Warriors send Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney and Brandin Podziemski instead. Payton recently opted into his $9.1 million player option, while Looney’s $8 million salary reportedly became guaranteed on Monday.
Payton is a ball hawk who makes hustle plays, harasses ball-handlers, knocks down the occasional 3 and would solve a lot of point-of-attack problems in Phoenix. As we covered in out veteran minimum bigs article, Looney would provide an upgrade at center over Nurk as a more switchable, defensive-minded big.
Podziemski impressed during his rookie year, putting up 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game on 38.5 percent shooting from 3. He’s another 2-guard, but the Suns would bolster their depth chart at every position, adding point guard, 2-guard, wing and big man.
The problem is, even with a first-rounder thrown in, does this trade really make the Suns that much better? Looney would represent a welcome alternative at the 5 for the playoffs, and Podz would be a great, young pickup, but does this quartet really push Phoenix deeper into contender territory than just keeping Durant? Both sides would have reason to pause.
7. 3-team madness
Do three-team superstar trades ever happen? Not really. But let’s get weird anyway.
In this off-the-wall exchange, the Suns shut up an entire fanbase by adding a point guard in Damian Lillard, pocketing Milwaukee’s 23rd overall pick in the draft in the process. The Bucks get younger at the point guard spot with an elite playmaker and volume 3-point shooter who has unlimited range in Trae Young. And the Hawks get the best player in the deal with KD, plus the No. 33 pick in this year’s draft (also from Milwaukee).
Since the Bucks are a second tax apron team, they’d need to take back less money than the $48.7 million they’re sending out with Dame’s salary. Fortunately, Young is making $43 million next year. The Hawks are projected to be a first apron team, so they’d need to shed some salary in order to make this happen, likely with a Clint Capela trade.
Dame didn’t have the best first year away from Portland, but even in a “down year,” he still put up 24.3 points, 7.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. His 3-point efficiency dipped to 35.4 percent, but there’s a good chance playing next to Booker and Beal would create more open looks — even if they’d be pretty undersized in the backcourt.
The problem here is, as dynamic a ball-handler, pull-up shooter and scorer as Lillard is, he’s not that much younger than Durant, and he’s certainly not better. Snagging an extra pick helps, allowing Phoenix to either trade up or use one pick and trade down with the other, but the Suns would be better off just keeping KD here.
Best value, but still not happening
8. Memphis Grizzlies
Once again, we’re dealing with a first tax apron team, so the Grizz would have to shed some salary to be able to take back more money than they’re sending out. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, declining Luke Kennard’s $14.7 million team option would get them there.
Whether they’d actually be willing to do so — while also giving up two quality role players and one franchise cornerstone — is debatable, but in this hypothetical, a trio of Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Kevin Durant would form a formidable core.
For the Suns, they’d snag a former Defensive Player of the Year and elite point-of-attack defender who can guard multiple positions in Marcus Smart. The 30-year-old only played 20 games last year due to injuries, but he’s a gritty player who’d bring some much-needed toughness and ball pressure.
Jaren Jackson Jr., another former DPOY, would be the centerpiece of this trade and the Suns’ defense as a Nurk upgrade, anchoring the middle with one of the league’s best shot-blockers. JJJ is prone to getting in foul trouble, but he’s coming off a career year where he averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. His rebounding and 3-point stroke (34.5 percent for his career) could use some work, but he’s still only 24 years old, and he wouldn’t hesitate to let it fly as the type of stretch-big Mike Budenholzer is used to working with.
Then there’s Vince Williams Jr., one of the league’s most promising, under-the-radar, two-way wings. He’s only 23 years old and put up 10.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in his second NBA season, all while shooting 37.8 percent from deep.
Unfortunately, this is a lot of depth and defensive prowess for Memphis to surrender, and although they wouldn’t have to give up any picks, they’d struggle to put competent role players around their star trio. This would be a decent return for Phoenix that would boost their defensive intensity, but it’d put a lot more pressure on Booker and an aging Beal to carry the offensive load, all without netting any draft assets in return.
9. Atlanta Hawks
Once again, the Hawks probably have to dump Clint Capela somewhere to duck under the first tax apron, which is where they’ll be if they extend Saddiq Bey his qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent. But if they were able to do so, they could find a way to squeeze in a few extra million on KD’s contract in a straight-up swap for Trae Young.
The Hawks are mulling the futures of Young and Dejounte Murray, so in our first scenario, let’s assume they choose to move on from Ice Trae. Young’s leadership, abhorrent defense and impact on winning have come under fire in recent years, but there’s no question about his talent. He put up 25.7 points and 10.8 assists per game last year, knocking down 37.3 percent of his 8.7 triples per game. Even better, he’ll only turn 26 years old in September.
For the Hawks, a core of Murray, Durant, Onyeka Okongwu, De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic and the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft is more enticing to think about than their current roster, even if there’d be more pressure to retool after adding an older, win-now piece like Durant.
The problem is the Suns would be severely undersized and completely overmatched on the defensive end if they traded for Young. So how about switching things up, targeting the more defensive-minded guard and taking Capela off Atlanta’s hands in the process?
Firstly, Phoenix would land a better shot-blocking and rim-running big. Capela may be 30 years old now, but he still put up a respectable 11.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game last season. Protecting the rim, holding down the boards and serving as a lob threat on the other end is all Phoenix would need him to do.
Murray, meanwhile, is a bit older than Young as he approaches his 28th birthday in September, but he’s a more balanced player who’d bring size (6-foot-5) and superior defense to the point guard spot. This is a former All-Defensive selection we’re talking about, and one who’s blossomed as a scorer, averaging 22.5 points, 6.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game last year.
Although Murray has never been a great 3-point shooter, he shot an average 36.3 percent from deep last year, and he’d have more room to operate sharing the floor with Booker and Beal. The problem is the Suns would then have three players who were used to handling the ball, and they’d receive no starting-caliber wing to replace Durant.
Let’s pretend the Hawks decide a trade for Durant only makes sense if they pair him with Young and Murray. If that were the case, Jalen Johnson would have to become the centerpiece, alongside Capela and a solid 3-and-D wing in De’Andre Hunter:
The Hawks could also substitute Bogdan Bogdanovic in Hunter’s place, but either way, this feels unlikely. According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, Johnson is the only player the Hawks aren’t considering trading. It makes sense, since the 22-year-old made a significant leap in his third season, averaging 16.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists a night while shooting 51.1 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent from deep. Johnson has a ton of potential, so this wouldn’t happen either.
10. Cleveland Cavaliers
This is tremendous value, but good luck convincing the Cavaliers to sacrifice both of their young cornerstones in the process. An impending contract extension for Donovan Mitchell will likely make Darius Garland available in trade talks, but that doesn’t mean they’d just dump him and Evan Mobley for a 35-year-old — even if that 35-year-old is still one of the best players in the world.
It’s a pity, because so far, this is the only return that would straddle the line between injecting the Suns with much-needed youth while also making sure they’d still be prepared to contend in 2024-25. Garland would give Phoenix a lead ball-handler and playmaker to make life easier for Booker and Beal, while Mobley has Defensive Player of the Year potential with his ability to guard multiple positions.
However, Cleveland isn’t giving up the 24-year-old Garland and the 23-year-old Mobley, so let’s explore some alternatives. On the Mobley front, this might be closer to what the Cavs would realistically offer:
Mobley remains the centerpiece, coming off a season where he averaged 15.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. The offensive leap many were anticipating never came, but Mobley still shot 57.9 percent from the floor and made 37.3 of his 3s (albeit on low volume). He could log minutes as a 4 because of his switchable defense, but more than likely, he’d serve as Phoenix’s upgrade at the 5.
As for Caris LeVert and Max Strus, the Suns would add two helpful role players on the wing. The 29-year-old LeVert enjoyed a bounce-back year, averaging 14.0 points, 5.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds a night coming off Cleveland’s bench, and although he only shot 32.5 percent from deep, he’d supply Phoenix’s second unit with a backup ball-handler, playmaker, scorer and backcourt defender.
Strus, meanwhile, put up a 12-5-4 stat line while shooting 35.1 percent from 3 on 6.8 attempts per game. The Suns need more high-volume 3-point shooters, and Strus isn’t afraid to let them fly. Cleveland would also throw in the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft in order to pair Durant with Garland and Mitchell.
However, even though it’s a fairer exchange on Cleveland’s end, it doesn’t necessarily improve Phoenix’s ceiling in the short-term or the long-term, unless you’re really high on Mobley’s offensive potential. And so we arrive at our final hypothetical:
Again, the Suns shut up the “Phoenix needs a point guard!” crowd, but they become undersized in the process. Garland (6-foot-1), Beal (6-foot-4) and Booker (6-foot-6) would struggle to get stops together, and as much as Dean Wade could help as a stretch-4 who made 39.1 percent of his 3s last year, at the end of the day, he’s just a bench piece.
This isn’t enough value for Durant either, and subbing in Georges Niang in Dean Wade’s place doesn’t change that equation much. Ultimately, it’s hard to feel like any of these deals properly compensate the Suns for what KD brings to the table, unless they’re content with taking a step backward before trying to move forward again.
There’s nothing wrong with changing course when the time comes, but it’s hard to feel like the Suns are already at that point just 17 months into Durant’s tenure in the Valley. Phoenix isn’t going to trade KD this summer, and the vast majority of these hypothetical trades reinforce why they’re taking that approach.
