Kevin Durant has made it clear to the Phoenix Suns and to the national media that he has three preferred destinations in a trade: the Miami Heat, the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs. As the wider basketball community tries to predict what the trade offers will be, a truly unacceptable package from the Spurs has been often discussed.
Obviously, any trade for a star like Durant would be made with the expectation of pairing him with the team's current stars -- you add a 36-year-old to compete, not start building a team. If the Heat make a deal, for example, it's to pair Durant with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. The Minnesota Timberwolves are not trading away Anthony Edwards in a deal. The LA Clippers want to have Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and KD all joining forces.
The Spurs don't want to make a fair trade offer
The Spurs, therefore, will not be offering Victor Wembanyama or De'Aaron Fox in a trade. Yet given Durant's age, it doesn't necessarily make sense for San Antonio to push all of their chips into the middle to create a window of contention for just the next couple of seasons. Therefore, the reasoning goes, they should not include Stephon Castle or the No. 2 pick in this year's draft.
That's all well and good, but the problem is that the trade put together for Kevin Durant ends up containing a whole lot of nothing. It's a pou pou platter of ho-hum matching salary and a mediocre draft pick. It looks something like this:
Jeremy Sochan is not the centerpiece of a trade; he is a failed lottery pick who still has some intriging potential but who is wildly overrated by the Spurs organization and its fans. In fact, they think they can trade for Durant and not include him at all!
The No. 14 pick could yield a fine prospect, but it's hardly a premium pick. Sochan has potential as a point forward, but his lack of a jumpshot and need to have the ball as a low-impact on-ball player -- to be fair, with legitimate defensive chops -- makes him a difficult fit for any good team. The Spurs essentially cannot play him with Wembanyama and expect to win games. Why would the Suns want him, again?
Keldon Johnson is slightly overpaid for what he is and has become a full-time bench player. Harrison Barnes is a solid veteran, to be sure, but the Suns need something of real value back for Durant. They are not trading him as a charity case.
It is an unfortunate reality that the Suns have lost the position of leverage in any Kevin Durant trade. Heading into the final year of his contract he can exert influence on which teams make a strong bid for him. The Suns have made it clear they are trading him. They don't have a plethora of backup plans to pivot to if the deal they want doesn't materialize.
At the same time, trading Durant just to trade him doesn't help the Suns move forward. Accepting whatever trade a team like the Spurs decides to leave at the side of the road for Phoenix is not a path to recovery; it's a path to more purgatory.
If Gregg Popovich calls to offer Matt Ishbia and the Phoenix front office an underwhelming trade as expected, they should laugh right in Pop's face. Not even this inconsistent franchise can afford to make such a poor trade.