Kevin Durant saved the Suns from an even worse headache before leaving

The tenure of Kevin Durant with the Phoenix Suns will forever be a complicated one, although many fans in The Valley are already cool with the all-time great.

He came, he balled out and he wasn't given a ton of help beyond Devin Booker because the franchise was stuck in the second apron. That's pretty much the story, plus the Suns did well out of the trade that sent him to the Houston Rockets.

Durant stopped Suns from adding Jimmy Butler before leaving

What has quickly been forgotten to time is the fact that, at last year's trade deadline, none other than the Golden State Warriors emerged as a potential candidate to bring Durant back to San Francisco.

The Suns were rumored to be open to a deal as well, because that would have meant they could go after Jimmy Butler, who at the time was with the Miami Heat and most certainly wanted out.

He was also looking for his next (and likely final) big payday, a fact not lost on Suns' owner Mat Ishbia as he would have gladly paid the now 36-year-old whatever he wanted to sign on in Phoenix.

Only none of that happened because Durant had no interest in revisiting the past, a decision that looks smarter by the day. The Rockets are legitimate contenders this season, the Warriors most certainly not.

Had things been different, it would have been a declining Butler stuck alongside Booker in Phoenix, with Jonathan Kuminga most likely there with him.

The Suns have long helped interest in Kuminga, and he would slot in perfectly with this current group, just not as part of whatever the roster would have looked like with Durant going the other way.

Moses Moody would also likely be around now too, while it is entirely possible either through this trade or the subsequent offseason that the Suns went and added a point guard.

That would have meant no Collin Gillespie explosion, even if Bill Simmons still isn't convinced by what he has seen. Worst of all, no Dillon Brooks or Jalen Green.

Say what you want about both, but they are much more aligned with Booker both in terms of style of play and age profile. There is a chance all three can grow together to contend.

Whereas if Butler was here instead, already the front office would be looking for ways to get younger and reset their roster even further. A real sliding doors moment, that thankfully did not happen because of one Kevin Durant.