The Suns continue to slide down the Western Conference standings, having lost nine of their past 11 games. After starting the season 8-1, Phoenix is currently just 27-31, two-and-a-half games behind Sacramento for the final play-in spot in the West.
In addition to several blockbuster trades, including arguably the most stunning deal in league history, one of the big storylines of this season’s deadline was Phoenix’s near-trade of Kevin Durant to Golden State before the two-time Finals MVP essentially nixed an in-season reunion with the Warriors. While he took the trade rumors diplomatically, Durant admitted he was “blindsided” to see his name surface in reports.
Considering the Suns have the most expensive payroll in the league and have been a major disappointment this season, it’s only natural that they’re almost certainly going to be actively looking to retool their roster in the offseason. Even before their recent run of poor play, multiple reporters indicated Phoenix would likely revisit trade talks involving Durant this summer, particularly if the rest of 2024/25 did not go well.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has speculated multiple times post-deadline that Durant and the Suns are likely to part ways this offseason. And Durant hasn’t exactly shut down that speculation.
Appearing on NBA Today on Wednesday (Twitter video link), Windhorst once again predicted that Durant will be on a new team next season. The 36-year-old is entering the final year of his contract, which will pay him $54.7MM in ’25/26.
“They’re going to trade him,” Windhorst said of the Suns and Durant. “And he knows that. … There’s been a couple opportunities where he could have criticized them for trying to trade him — he has not done that. He has been very professional about this and I expect that to continue throughout the rest of the regular season.”
Windhorst made his comments on the heels of Durant appearing on Draymond Green‘s podcast, which he co-hosts with former NBA guard Baron Davis. Asked directly by Davis if he wants his career to end in Phoenix, Durant sounded more ready to move on than anything else (Twitter video link).
“I want my career to end on my terms, that’s the only thing,” Durant said (hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports). “That’s the only thing I’m worried about. ‘Cause I see a lot of dudes that don’t get that opportunity, so I want to keep putting in that work to make that choice on my own.
“But as far as the Warriors, I didn’t want to move. … I get why (the Suns) want to trade me, simple fact that’s just business, but for me looking at it … we (can) just play the season out and if that’s the decision you want to make in the offseason, then we figure it out. But if I can stop (the Warriors trade), then why not.”
Durant went on to explain that it was important to him to finish the season with the Suns, saying he was “committed to his coaches and teammates” and that he wanted to “see it through.”
That Beal contract looking better by the day.
It’s amazing how it overtook Levine’s contract as one of the worst. Although now … Embiid’s contract is absolutely brutal.
Paul George’s is pretty brutal, too. Philly’s in a terrible spot.
Embiid is such a terrible contract. The worst part is Embiid just throws his body into people and gets injured for being an offensive flopper. Maybe if they fined him he might stay healthy. If you take away all his free throws he’s average.
Jimmy is short KD. Jimmy will lead GSW to a title this year, then GSW will trade Jimmy for KD 1-1. Many NBA fans online will cry. I will laugh. GSW will then win more titles.
cope and seethe lil bro
Comments like this are why a downvote button should be available.
Butler plays nothing like KD. And ff by some miracle GSW wins the title, there’s zero chance they’d decide to not run it back and make a Butler for KD trade.
Hahahahaha
How much blame does Mike Budenholzer deserve for this year? I understand injuries have played a part, but compared to last year, the Suns have been relatively healthier this year.
It seems Vogel gets a bit of a raw deal. Got one with the Lakers and one here. I thought he deserved better from the Lakers but at least he got an extended opportunity. I’m secretly glad Phoenix is trash this year because he didn’t get a fair shot there either.
Embiid for KD?
Booker and Beal with Embiid.
Tell Embiid no more top of the key/3 point line stuff. Get in the paint iso up down low and use your foot work to score on the inside and collect fouls. Booker and Beal two ball handling guards doing the work from the perimeter. Then just load up on defensive wings/3 and D forwards.
Ryan Dunn is perfect, Royce is great, Bol is interesting, Cody Martin also does a job.
Nick Richards serves as a good back up cause Joel is often injured and Allen gives a good back up shooter.
As for my Sixers, enough of the Joel Embiid process era. Let’s start fresh, KD Maxey McCain PG just pure scorers and bucket getters. Gives them 1 more year of being a “contender” (pretender) then just build around Maxey.
This actually isn’t bad, assuming Joel does not have long term issues and will be somewhat healthy next year. Add a few picks and I see the FO considering something like this. Book/Beal isn’t that bad, and we have enough depth that if we add a few smaller pieces, we might be able to make some noise.
90% of all pretzel sticks sold in the U.S. last year were more durable than Embiid’s knees.
Embiid might be the softest and most mentally weak player in the league. Towns used to hold that crown, but he’s turned it around. I really hope Embiid gets his physical fitness in check one day. He’s too talented to be so effortless so often.
KD for Jimmy > KD for Embiid
Yeah, no. Jimmy is NOT that guy, and won’t be. They have very similar play styles, post dominant and solid defenders. Why would we downgrade there if we were to trade KD? Makes 0 sense. Yes, Im aware Joel has the health issues, but I said assuming if they don’t exist, in a perfect world.
“Jimmy is NOT that guy”
Just say you dont know ball already, /eyeroll
I know more than you easily. Jimmy is a dog, brings a championship mindset everywhere he goes. However, we are talking about KD here. Compared to KD, jimmy just isn’t that guy. If he was, warriors wouldn’t consider a swap therefore invalidating your previous point
You are wrong. Both KD and Jimmy have been top 20 players in the league every year of their career.
Jimmy paywalls his good play when he needs a contract, KD does not. Only difference, aside from height/size. Both are equally elite at NBA basketball. You dont know ball, you are a Suns fan for crying out loud – where are your rings? Silence until you have an answer…
Dude. KD has been the top 1 -3 in the league, for almost all of his career. Save for his rookie season and the one list to the Achilles tear. Jimmy has not even been in the top 12, in any but, perhaps one season. To 20 yes. KD level Not Even Close
There is Not One player in the NBA that any coach, GM, or any other player, would pick to go get that game 7 or go get that last shot get the win. Not Bron, Not Luka, Not Tatum, Not Steph…. No body
There’s no scheme and no individual defender he can’t beat. Were it not for James playing so long at his level, KD would be the GOAT
I love Jimmy’s game. But Jimmy caries KD’s bags bruh.
The other more obvious shout is Houston.
They said they wouldn’t make an in season trade and wanted to see this team play out the year. They have been rumoured to every big talent.
FVV, Tari Eason and this year’s Suns pick for KD.
Green KD Sengun as a trio and solid role players like Jabari Amen Brooks Whitmore and Reed.
Could probably have Amen as a point guard and lead defender if you wanted or get a cheap free agent like Malcom Brogdan, Spencer Dinwiddie or Daivon Mitchell. Ofcourse Aaron Holiday is there but he’s more of a steady back up.
Suns take on Fred as a 1 year expiring deal, along with Tari Eason a fantastic combo forward who plays both ends of the floor and their pick back in the draft (13th roughly). Between guys like Tari, Ryan Dunn, Nick Richards and the 13th pick it would be sign of a rebuild maybe but it’s also steps in the right direction of refreshing this team which is stuck in no man’s land. Fred as expring could be used in another deal otherwise keep him next to Booker and move off Beal, that’d be awesome. Either way steps in the right direction
This might just be the worst mock trade / proposal I’ve ever read. You think a generational talent, who has not gotten slightly worse and only improved in true fg% as he ages, would be traded for this bad of a package? FVV is quickly fading, his efficient is horrendous and so is his contract. He’s also been injured a lot this year. While Eason has been great this year, he’s also struggled with injuries and is nowhere near KD level. Not to mention one first??? A low lottery first too?? Horrendous mock, while our FO isn’t great, they’ll hang up and laugh at the Rockets FO. For the Rockets to get KD, it’d take multiple firsts, and take one or multiple of the following: Amen, Jabari, Sengun, Eason.
KD is 37 next season, even if he is elite, his trade value is dropping by the year. It will -not- take that much to get him. If anything, Suns will try and free up some salary when moving him.
Yes, his value is dropping, but he’s still gonna get us a haul. It wont be like his trade to PHX, but it isn’t gonna be FVV and Eason bad.
Homer fans who have won zero rings opinions mean nothing
KD is 37 and on an expiring contract. Whoever trades for him is at risk of him leaving after 1 year or at risk of injury or production fall off due to age. Suns really don’t have anything to stand on in negotiations. They don’t own their picks, they aren’t a huge playoff threat and won’t just run it back. They are the ones looking for a deal not teams calling them.
FVV would e a solid expiring deal and decent role player if you want to stay a somewhat contender. Tari Eason is a really good young prospect and then you get your draft pick back.
Houston become better with KD but he isn’t going to last longer than 2 seasons so there’s no way they give up Amen, Sengun or Jalen.
Every other team will have the same opinion. KD has 2 years max and it’s not worth giving up tons of high quality assets for something with no guarantee.
GSW could’ve done soemthing considering their window is only 2/3 years but they just got Jimmy. Lakers just got younger with Luka. There isn’t many old desperate playoff sides besides Philly and Phoenix…
Which is why KD-Jimmy 1-1 trade is 100% going to happen.
Except the fact GSW wants to keep Jimmy and just extended him. Whereas why would the suns want Jimmy. Is he better than KD no. Does he help them long term no.
Who says GSW wants to keep Jimmy? They gave him a 2 year deal so he can ball out for them this year, but then he is gunna do his “paywalling” of his talent again, GSW doesn’t want that.
KD should have NEVER left GSW. This is rectifying it. Even if GSW wins a title with Jimmy, they 100% will flip him 1-1 for KD. If it means keeping the youth depth, GSW is going to do this whether you agree with it or not.
Why would the Suns want Jimmy? Idk ask them? They literally tried to acquire him. KD is like 5% better than Jimmy at his best.
Well, knowing that you can’t move Beal, and Booker is still young enough to build around, moving KD this offseason is the only logical choice for the Suns. It’s not as though this team will perform much better next year, as Beal and Durant get a year older, and the Salary Cap precludes the Suns from improving the roster around them. If the Suns could move KD for an established player, a couple of young guys who have some potential, and a couple of pics, it will hurt the Suns in the short term, but will help avoid a total half decade plus collapse in a year or two’s time.
Come finish your career in South Texas next to Wembs!
If the Suns trade him it better be for a bunch of young cheap players and draft picks not some other old all star.
Do you think he will command that kind of a haul at this point?
100% he will. Its Kevin Durant. His stats have not declined in the slightest compared to when he was younger. He is (if I’m correct) leading the NBA in clutch fg%, and is only improving yearly in true fg%.
I guess we’ll see. This season, his ppg, rpg, apg, and spg are below both last season and his career avgs, and his bpg and TOs are better than last season and career. As far as advanced stats, his WS, WS/48 and VORP are the 2nd lowest in his entire career just above his rookie season, and his BPM is the 3rd lowest.
As far as him leading the league in clutch fg%, not even close. Ighodaro leads the Suns in clutch FG% at 100%, Bol Bol and Plumlee tied for 2nd at 75%, Allen’s at 58.3%, KD 158th in the league at 45.1%
link to nba.com
Your stats are highly invalid for clutch fg%. Look at stats with minimum fg attempted lol. Oso barely plays, and plum / bol barely have any clutch time shots
Those are the official NBA.com sortable stats.
Sort for points, and KD is 26th on 2.0 fga (tied for 27th in fga)
Some team will be desperate to make a good offer on him. i am guessing Houston since he played for Texas and they have the young players and draft picks to get him.
Houston is the most probable spot. I could see Dallas, Spurs and OKC making some efforts tho. Spurs and OKC def have the pieces to get it done. As for Dallas… they likely don’t have as much as Spurs or OKC, but who knows with Nico.
He’d still command a significant return. Not the hauls of the past, but enough to jumpstart a rebuild. Staying relatively healthy the last two seasons has to help.
But the clock is ticking. It’s now or never to pull the trigger. If you wait any longer, you risk the cliff and/or future injuries.
Suns are a mess. Highest payroll for what ??
This started with ex coach Monty. Players took him to NBA Finals. Then he messed that up. Ran away to Detroit and messed that up. Suns had a young and primed team in Finals. Now they are an aging, badly constructed team. Did it to themselves really.
Best thing they can do is move KD. He still has good value. Build around Book while you still can. Get younger deeoer better …….
True.
Say, how weak is the east this season? The 20-38 76ers are 2 games in the loss column out of the play-in. Has it ever been this bad?
This team is not that poorly constructed. They have the pieces, its just not clicking. There are many statistics in which either the suns or multiple players lead in (3pt%, clutch fg%, and a few other graphics I’ve seen on x) not to mention they started 8-1. While yeah the “big 3” obviously isn’t working and shouldn’t of been a thing to begin with, its not as poorly constructed as people say. Also, do you think that trading Mikal/Cam and the picks for KD was a bad thing? If you are, you clearly don’t know the first thing about basketball.
Disagree, that Suns team is too small and has too many guards and no effective bigs.
When your 5th and 6th best players are Royce O’Neal and Grayson Allen, your team is not good.
Yeah, the bigs are def our weakest spot. By far, too. Also, i’m not saying we have a championship caliber roster. Not even close. I’m just saying, this team is constructed well enough to where there should be 0 reason or excuse to as why we aren’t top 10 in the west at the very least. Also, horrendous take man. Royce is a dog, he’s averaging 10/5 with good defense and 40% from 3. Grayson Allen being your 5th best player is a “problem” 30/30 NBA teams would like to have. Dude just led the league in 3pt%, and is shooting 43.6% this year.
Your team is 27-31 and moving in the opposite direction of the Warriors, its time to stop being delusional.
Going to piss off a lot of folks but has he ever made ANY team better besides GSW and thats bc of you KNOW who?
OKC ❌
Brooklyn ❌❌
Phoenix ❌❌❌
If this was baseball, he’d be out by now.
Don’t say “lack of talent either”.
This might be one of the worst takes I’ve seen, period.
Show me where he won outside of Golden State. Let us know. Dude runs away from every team when it’s tough. Everyone thinks he’s like moses leading to those teams to the promise land but couldn’t even get to a conference finals appearance in Brooklyn or Phoenix.
Show me a well constructed team outside of Golden State? Both the Suns and Nets have been injury-plagued and poorly constructed. The way you view a game is pure trash. There’s one player in NBA history, not counting plumber era, who has won practically by himself, that being the goat, Bron. Defining individual success by team success in a team sport is the dumbest thing ever. He’s the greatest scorer to ever grace the game, no debate. Also, he’s only “ran away” once, being OKC. He asked out of Brooklyn after both Harden and Kyrie left, leaving him with nothing. Any superstar of his caliber asks out of that situation. PHX is a rough situation, and he’s not asking out. He wanted to see this season through.
Yeah I stopped caring what you had to say after the “plumber era” comment. Go cry into a pillow if I hurt your feelings or call a support hotline for all your endured basketball trauma.
Nobodies crying here, you’re just dumb and your views are trash. I said “plumber era” as there’s only one modern player to do so, and you seem the type to bring up George Mikan in this situation
Greatest scorer, no debate?
That would be MJ, with 10 scoring titles to KD’s 4 and the highest career ppg of 30.1, to KD’s 27.2.
link to basketball-reference.com
link to basketball-reference.com
Did you just say MJ is a better scorer than KD? You’re def over 40 bro. Nobody in the history of the NBA has had the ability to score at all 3 levels like KD. He’s 7 feet + moving like a guard, and has the deepest bag in the leagues history.
Yes I said it, and then I proved it.
Facts > words
Not “might be”. Is. Without a doubt. Even SAS wouldn’t say something this dumb (who am I kidding, he actually might).
I get thinking KD maybe is a little overrated because he has never been necessarily “the guy” to build around. He’s not an offensive hub like Luka. He’s not an elite playmaker like Cade. And he’s not a two-way star like prime healthy Kawhi. You can’t just stick him on a team and hope for the best. But he’s undoubtedly a significant ceiling raiser if you can add him to a proper roster.
KD has also shot himself in the foot more times than I can count by prioritizing the wrong friends and the wrong situations. That’s less on him as a player and more on him as a naive, foolish person.
The Thunder were a very good team hampered by Westbrook’s tendencies and a mediocre head coach. The Nets were a collection of headcases and spoiled children. And the Suns were expected to be a disaster from the start thanks to the stupid meddling new owner.
They’re only 3 games out of the play-in. Bud is finally starting the big three – can they move up?
Can they? Yeah. Will they? Probably not. Hardest remaining schedule in the league, and they just can’t figure it out. The pieces are there to make the playoffs, somethings just not clicking. Either its the coaching or something in the locker room, but whatever it is, it just feels a small change away. We’ve competed in many games with bigger teams, and started 8-1 against good teams.
Every one saying build around Booker…. It’s time to realize he’s not that guy. Booker is not a 1A. Full stop.
You may be right, but he’s the closest they have. How many 1A’s are there in the league that were drafted by their team?
Brother, what?? Are we watching the same NBA?? As a 24yo he led a young suns team to the finals, went up 2-0, and was a dog the entire playoffs. He holds many arena scoring records, a long with many playoff scoring records. He has the capability and easily can, we just have yet to put a team with enough depth around him since 2020-2021.
To be fair, it was CP3’s arrival that transformed the Suns into a serious contender. Before his arrival they were pretty mediocre.
Absolute fact sheagoodbye.
@shea exactly. He introduced them to serious basketball
@phx it’s not necessarily a knock, there are very few players (in my opinion) that are 1As worthy of “building around” as people say. A top dog on a championship team. Scoring doesn’t do it alone, so scoring records don’t mean much imo. For example, Anthony Davis is an incredible player, top 10 type of guy. I think he’s more a 1A than Booker, and I’m not completely sure he’s a 1a himself.
Lots of players fit that bill. Jaylen Brown, Kyrie, Brunson. I could be wrong, just my opinion. Guys I’d love to have on my team and could be a main piece for a chip, but not guys I’m tearing it down to build around. That being said, not sure Phoenix has much to tear down anyway
Booker has a higher PPG than his career average this season and has elite numbers all round this season.
Phoenix’s worst issue is Beal’s contract. They are locked in with him, its either move KD or Booker.
Exactly, thank you. He’s the most hated superstar ITL, for 0 reason. Supposedly, both ATL and Washington were interested in Beal last deadline. We can find a package, it won’t be good for us, it’s just a matter of him waiving the clause. We won’t move Booker, the FO isn’t dumb enough too. The outrage by our fanbase would be similar, if not worse than Luka. He’s a sun for life. This off-season will likely be moving KD, getting a competent 5, and adding depth and hoping we can do something next season. Ishbia and Jones do not want to rebuild, and will find a way to “compete”
Maybe Washington will take Beal back to ger rid of Middleton and Smart. We shall see.
LOL. KD didn’t take it diplomatically, at least with the people that matter, like the PHX FO. The media, particularly that of Windbag’s ilk, doesn’t matter to KD and he gives them nothing. KD had lots of good reasons for not wanting to move midseason, and he was upset with the PHX FO putting his name out there as they did. He pretty much told them to be prepared to deal him in the offsesaon. BTW, KD looks the part of a nice guy, but he’s actually a bit nasty with an edge.
Wait, are you saying that trading multiple young players and draft picks for an aging star that has failed everywhere he’s been (other than when teamed with Steph) didn’t work? How could this be? I said at that time that coach Bud’s career would be over if he took this job…,,