If the Phoenix Suns want to avoid getting hosed in any Kevin Durant trade, there’s only one thing left for them to do: keep him on the roster past the 2025 NBA draft.
Initial reports have suggested they wish to move the soon-to-be 37-year-old before the first round commences on Wednesday, June 25. In the days and weeks since, this has remained the unofficial deadline to hammer out a deal. That makes sense…in theory.
Moving Durant in advance of, if not during, the draft allows Phoenix to have a say in any 2025 prospects coming back as part of the deal. It also increases the chances of lowering the team’s 2024-25 luxury-tax bill, since the 2025-26 league year doesn’t officially begin until sometime after the draft is completed.
Idealistic visions don’t always align with reality, though. The Suns are finding that out the hard and painful way now.
Kevin Durant isn't generating enough trade interest
KD’s trade value was always going to be murky. Not only does he turn 37 in September, but he’s entering the final year of his contract. Any team that acquires him must do so with the intention of signing him to a $120-plus million max extension that runs through his age-39 season.
This inherently limits Phoenix’s leverage. So, too, does putting an arbitrary cutoff—like draft night—on negotiations. Teams already knew the Suns had to trade KD. They now know when Phoenix wants or needs it to happen. And that lends itself to lowball offers.
The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Jon Krawczynski previously reported that both the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs are so far laying only underwhelming packages at the Suns’ feet. Now, thanks to a joint report from Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line, we also know that the Miami Heat are refusing to include Kel’el Ware in a KD trade, and that the Toronto Raptors have no desire to send Jakob Poeltl Phoenix’s way.
This is a borderline worst-case scenario for the Suns. Especially when you consider that another one of Durant’s preferred landing spots, the New York Knicks, have effectively removed themselves from trade talks.
At this rate, if Phoenix wants to jettison the two-time MVP before the start of the first round, it will have to take a bath on its original (and admittedly over ambitious) asking price. Fortunately, it has one card left to play.
The Suns need to create leverage on the Kevin Durant trade market
The Suns' path to increasing Kevin Durant trade interest isn't particularly complicated. All they have to do is wait—certainly for the draft to end, but also for free-agency dominoes to fall.
There is some risk caked into this approach. But it’s minimal. Teams tracking Durant’s availability could decide to move on. The question: To what, and to whom? This summer’s cap-space landscape is nonexistent, and the free-agency market is entirely devoid of gettable star power. Other trade candidates could amble onto the auction block, but Giannis Antetokounmpo already did the Suns a solid by basically ensuring he won’t be leaving the Milwaukee Bucks.
As of right now, Phoenix still has the offseason’s biggest potential prize on the roster. The Brian Gregory-led front office needs to act like it.
Delaying a Durant trade until after the draft could cost the Suns a chance to choose their preferred 2025 prospects. So what? We already know they will not be getting anything better than the No. 9 pick (via the Raptors). There is not a lot of talent variance by that point of the first round.
Teams will get desperate later in the summer as no other moves materialize. Durant could even open his list to include other destinations, increasing the number of teams with which Phoenix can do business, and the leverage it can hold over suitors already involved in the bidding.
At the absolute worst, the Suns waiting to trade KD does nothing. The offers available to them now will still be accessible sometime in July or August. So while they can’t afford to keep Durant into next season, they can certainly stand to wait out the market. Patience could end up being the difference between a home-run return, and a package that doesn’t move the needle enough for a Suns team with little to no margin for error.