Kevin Durant trade explainer: Why Suns star is likely to be dealt and who’s in the running to land former MVP

If the Phoenix Suns had their way, they would have traded Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors at the deadline. He ultimately squashed that deal and stayed put for the rest of the season, but from there, the die was cast. Once you’ve tried to trade a top-20 player of all time without his knowledge or consent, the relationship is generally broken beyond repair.

Maybe a reconciliation here is possible, but would it be advisable? The Suns have now gone through two-and-a-half years with Durant in place, and they’ve gotten worse in each of them. They lost a six-game, second-round war to Denver in 2023, got swept by Minnesota in the first round in 2024, and then missed the postseason altogether this season. The Suns, in their current state, are not worth preserving. Bradley Beal has a no-trade clause, so Phoenix can’t count on using him to improve. The Suns probably should consider moving Devin Booker and beginning a full rebuild, but owner Mat Ishbia has said on the record that it will “never happen.”

Phoenix has no role players that are especially desirable on the trade market. There isn’t any exciting youth. They’re out of their own first-round picks to trade, leaving them with only two heavily protected ones they picked up in a disastrous deadline swap with the Jazz. Durant is the only pathway they have to any major change.

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Jasmyn Wimbish

So with the trade market likely to kick into gear in the coming weeks, let’s scope out the Durant market. What do we know? What are the Suns looking for? And what teams might consider a run at the 2014 MVP?

Phoenix is trading Durant… right?

The consensus after the deadline was that yes, Phoenix will, in fact, trade Durant. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said so emphatically in March. The reporting at the end of the season mostly echoed that belief. While Ishbia himself did not directly say that Durant would move, he did tell ESPN that the Suns might need to “pivot and reload” around Booker, the long-term franchise player.

Interestingly, little reporting has come of late, even with the majority of the NBA now eliminated and in offseason mode. There has been no reporting hinting at meetings between Durant and the team, as there have been for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. For now, nothing has contradicted either the in-season reporting or the common sense here. It seems as though the bridge has been burned here, and Phoenix has no other way of significantly changing their team. We should assume a trade is happening, but we’re not quite at the point where we can treat that as fact.

What do the Suns want out of a Durant trade?

… Everything? Really think about what the Suns gave up to get Durant. They traded four first-round picks directly, and then Mikal Bridges, who was also in the trade, netted five in a follow-up trade with the Knicks. Factor in the reality that Cam Johnson is also worth one the moment Brooklyn decides to trade him, and Phoenix gave up double-digit first-round pick value to bring Durant to Phoenix.

The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin reported in March that Phoenix would look for three first-round picks and a young player in a possible Durant deal. That’s probably pretty ambitious for a 37-year-old, and while young players will be important in the rebuilding effort around Booker, it’s worth asking whether or not draft picks should be a priority here. If Phoenix does intend to reload around Booker, specifically, those picks probably aren’t going to do him much good. Booker will turn 29 around opening night. He’s probably got a few more years in his prime. Adding a rookie in 2028 isn’t going to be helpful. Picks make more sense in a world in which Booker is also moved and a total rebuild begins, unless they’re planning to reroute those picks for players.

If the plan here is to win around Booker in the next few years, there are two viable paths a deal like this could take. The simplest would be to trade Durant for three or four cheaper role players that do different things. Phoenix needs a bit of everything right about now: rim-protection, perimeter defense, playmaking, a guard that can pressure the rim, pick your poison. Teams that can offer them several of these things would be appealing. 

The alternative would be to swap Durant for a similarly expensive, older player at a different position just to balance out the Phoenix roster. Don’t rule this possibility out. Keeping stars happy usually means surrounding them with other stars. If someone wants to give Booker a running mate that has a different skill set, that would probably appeal to both him and the Suns.

What does Durant want out of a trade?

This is a harder question. All Durant has really said, back in February in an appearance on the Draymond Green Show, was “I want my career to end on my terms. That’s the only thing.” Durant is 37 years old. He’s also on an expiring contract. If he doesn’t want to go somewhere, he has more than enough leverage to axe a deal. We know that because he’s already done it. The question then becomes, where will he want to go?

We don’t know that yet. We can probably rule out Golden State, considering what happened at the deadline. A return to Oklahoma City probably isn’t in the cards either. In a 2019 interview with The Wall Street Journal’s J.R. Moehringer, he said he experienced a “venomous, toxic feeling” when he originally returned to Oklahoma City as a member of the Warriors, citing the cold-shoulder treatment he received from staffers with his old team. This would have only made sense if the Thunder had been eliminated by now anyway.

In past moves, Durant has emphasized partnering up with scoring guards. His 2016 free agency led him to Stephen Curry. He linked up with Kyrie Irving and James Harden in Brooklyn after that, and when he wanted to leave the Nets, he targeted Booker’s Suns. At this stage of his career, Durant probably needs to play with a high-level shot-creator in the backcourt. He isn’t the same player he once was. He doesn’t really get to the rim anymore, and he’s never been an elite playmaker. If there are players that he has preexisting relationships with, that might help. Among players he hasn’t played with, Anthony Edwards stands out here, as Edwards idolized Durant growing up and they played together on Team USA last summer.

But, realistically, a lot of this is probably getting decided behind closed doors right now. Durant is probably speaking to players around the league and figuring out who he wants to play with. If he is indeed going to end his career on his terms, that’s going to mean trying to pick his destination himself. Without knowing what sort of team he’s looking for, we can’t accurately guess what a deal would look like. However, there are a handful of teams that make sense.

So, who’s in the running here?

Durant isn’t Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s not an MVP candidate with a long runway ahead of him. His age and expiring contract make him less appealing as a trade candidate than he was a few years ago, but that also widens the pool of teams that could plausibly add him significantly. He’s gettable at a reasonable price.

In April, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that there was mutual interest between Durant and five teams at the deadline. Those teams were the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Houston Rockets. Any of them could plausibly be suitors again this offseason. On deadline day, Bob Myers said on ESPN that the Grizzlies tried to land Durant but that he turned them away. Perhaps he’d be open-minded about them this offseason.

Those would probably be the likeliest teams to ask. They won’t be the only ones. Could Golden State return to the well? Phoenix was trying to use Durant to land Jimmy Butler at the deadline. The Warriors have Butler to trade. The Dallas Mavericks are far less likely to make a major trade for an older player now that they’ve won Cooper Flagg, but the thought of a team built around Flagg, Durant, Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving in the short term would surely be appealing. Keep an eye on the middle of the Eastern Conference. Teams like Detroit and Orlando probably see an opportunity with the Celtics likely out of commission next season. Maybe one of them takes a bold swing.

Durant is perhaps the most portable superstar in NBA history. Even now, he is perhaps the most difficult shotmaker in the NBA. He could fit onto any team, and most teams could afford him. Expect a lot of interest from around the league, but ultimately, Durant’s preferences are probably going to swing things in one team’s favor.