The Phoenix Suns should overpay…and sign Kevin Durant

Even if he didn’t sign it could still benefit the Suns

Let’s say too that the Phoenix Suns did offer Kevin Durant a large deal that he cannot ignore.

We can assume that it would have to be a max, but maybe it is somewhat less although enough to make the offer worth a level of consideration from KD that they were never going to get prior to the injury.

That offer alone might force teams like the Warriors, Lakers, Nets, Knicks, etc. who have been in consideration all spring, to match it (potentially when they weren’t necessarily expecting to need to go a full max at this point).

Phoenix Suns

Let’s say for instance too that the Warriors end up being the only primary suitor for Durant now due to this injury; that teams like the Knicks and Nets decide to back out for fear of wasting their current cap opportunities on a broken down Durant.

If that is the case, it is possible that Golden State will negotiate a one-year deal to care for his re-hab, and have the ability to bring him back for the playoffs should he heal quickly enough.

But if James Jones comes at him with a long-term major offer, Durant would be forced to consider it knowing that his long-term earnings have been damaged, thus cornering the Warriors into matching their offer.

In doing this, Golden State is therefore pigeon-holed into a massive amount of money on their books that is being paid to a player to rehab, damaging their ability to re-tool this offseason around a now diminished core.

The beautiful thing too is that if the deal is large enough (say James Jones is able to offer a full max), the Warriors might not be able to match it as they are probably going to have to look to re-sign DeMarcus Cousins now (who most people have probably assumed they weren’t going to do) if they want to keep that fourth All-Star on the roster letting KD walk (or limp – too soon?).

There is certainly no guarantee that the Warriors can keep all five stars at any combined price points (hence my idea that regardless of what happens with KD that Phoenix steals away Cook and Looney in restricted free agency).

Kevin Durant’s unfortunate achilles injury may be Phoenix’s gain of on a superstar player who likely would have never given a Suns max contract offer a second thought. But if teams are now scared away by the prospect of signing a player to a massive deal who will not be able to fulfill the first year of it, their hesitation could be the perfect (if not only) opportunity this offseason to add to the young core in a significant way as the franchise’s ability to be patient may allow them to become a primary option when they never were before.