ESPN's wild Devin Booker trade has to be seen to be believed

The Phoenix Suns are expected to be active this offseason, and that is likely to mean that Kevin Durant will be traded to another team. Quite where that will be is unclear yet - as despite the best intentions of the Suns - the asking price for the 36-year-old appears to be trending in the wrong direction at the worst possible time.

One course of action nobody expects the franchise to take at this point is moving on from Devin Booker. The 28-year-old has not only called The Valley home for his entire career to this point, he has a legitimate shot at being the best player in Suns' history. He's also had input in who the next head coach of the team will be, another massive plus in keeping him engaged in Phoenix.

ESPN's proposed Booker trade is absolutely nuts.

Despite there being zero inclination that the Suns are ready to blow this all up and go back to the beginning of the team-building process all over again, that hasn't stopped ESPN from cooking up what can only be described as a madness. Make no mistake, we're all for having some fun in the dog days of summer to pass the time.

But the NBA Finals haven't even started yet, and Durant is still very much on this roster. Yet despite all of those entirely logically reasons, the national media outlet has decided to send Booker to - of all teams - the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the kind of package that you probably wouldn't even see in 2K.

With the Mavericks having traded Luka Doncic, we guess anything is possible. But this still feels like several bridges too far, to say nothing of what Suns' fans would think of Booker joining one of their current rivals in the league. That may have been as much about Booker vs Doncic as anything else - but if Devin suddenly called Texas home - many fans would never get over the betrayal.

We're not even going to get into what this would mean for the Mavericks, because it is obviously good news for them in the short-term. Which is all they're focused on after trading for Anthony Davis, even if Kyrie Irving is out indefinitely with a torn ACL. That trio when healthy would be everything on both ends of the court that Suns' owner Mat Ishbia hoped his own three-headed star creation could be.

Whisper it quietly though, but there's a bit to like for the Suns here. Klay Thompson in that purple uniform just looks straight weird, but Cooper Flagg has the chance to be generational. Imagine having a big man like that, plus whatever the Suns would get from a team like the Rockets in a potential Durant deal.

For the longest time now it feels like Suns fans have complained about rooting for this version of the team. The come up of the past was a lot more fun - and with the lack of expectations - it was. Going back to Flagg, Cam Whitmore, Jabari Smith Jr., Ryan Dunn, Collin Gillespie and the gang sure does sound like fun on paper. At the expense of giving up Booker though? Come on ESPN...