NBA Legend urges Kevin Durant to stick with the Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are going to go through some massive changes this summer, and Kevin Durant is sure to be at the center of that. Although the franchise need to first hire a new head coach to take them into what they hope will be a brave new era, the first order of business once that has been decided is where to trade Durant.

Complicating matters further is the uncertain future of Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. As long as their is even a hint that the 30-year-old could himself be on the move for the first time in his career, every team in the league is going to keep their powder dry. Once that has been decided, will many of those same franchises turn their attentions to the 36-year-old Durant.

Dominique Wilkins urges Durant to stay in Phoenix.

One person who would rather Durant stayed in The Valley beyond this summer is NBA Legend Dominique Wilkins, and he recently opened up on his reasoning for this when speaking with ESports Insider's Kyle Odegard. Wilkins never reached the mountain top in the league and won a championship - and given that Durant has done so twice - that to him is reason to stay put.

"When you’ve gotten to the point when you’ve won a championship, to me, moving around like that would be taxing... when you get around that age, you should look at your situation and say look, I want to finish out where I’m comfortable at, instead of chasing championships."

Wise words from an all-time great, and Wilkins could yet be proven correct. For all of the chatter of Durant moving on, Suns' owner Mat Ishbia - as well as new General Manager Brian Gregory - have both spoken already this offseason about how they like the stars they have on their team. Everybody agrees change has to happen, and the assumption is that it will be Durant who says goodbye.

In fairness the player himself has done little to squash those rumors, while Bradley Beal's no-trade clause - and this little reason as well - mean he is unlikely to be dealt, while Devin Booker is going nowhere. Which leaves Durant as the odd man out, while also giving the Suns the opportunity to re-tool around Booker while he is in his prime.

Wilkins also said something else of note in that interview, by claiming that "Kevin Durant doesn’t need to prove anything to anybody about how great he is. He’s one of the greatest players to ever play the game, one of the greatest scorers ever. He doesn’t have to prove anything." Only as you can see from the embedded clip above, we know that is not Durant's way.

Wilkins is correct in claiming Durant doesn't have to prove anything to anyone, yet that is all he constantly tries to do. There has probably never been as active a superstar on social media, and he will get into it with everybody from established journalists to random profiles with five followers. Durant has always appeared to want validation of some kind, which is why he likely wants to move.

His two championships with the Golden State Warriors were won alongside Stephen Curry on one of the greatest teams of all time, and he hasn't been back to the NBA Finals since. The Brooklyn Nets experiment looked like he was trying to go to a franchise that hadn't succeeded and bring them to the highest level, although having Kyrie Irving and James Harden for company was kind of the same.

Moving to the Suns and teaming up with Booker represented the best of everything for Durant, but it hasn't worked out that way. Hardly a superteam - even after Beal got there as we all know now - and also a franchise that had never won a championship. Wilkins is right that Durant doesn't have to prove anything, but he's also wrong because he wants to. Which is why he'll go searching again.