Kevin Durant’s options for trade are finally starting to peter away after the 34-year-old superstar’s trade request put player movement on hold for the last couple of weeks as teams tried to figure out how they could move assets to acquire KD. With the Nets sticking at an extremely high asking price, the league realizes that trading for KD may not be attainable.
The Phoenix Suns are the first major KD suitor to make a move, as they matched the $133 million contract offer from the Indiana Pacers for Deandre Ayton. This means that Ayton will be a Phoenix Sun and can’t be traded till January 15th next while also holding a no-trade clause for the entirety of his first contract season.
Adrian Wojnarowski had some bad news for Suns fans as he laid out how the Suns can’t really make a move for KD work now that they can’t trade Ayton or include Devin Booker in a deal.
“For Phoenix, it leaves them without the assets to be competitive in a Kevin Durant Trade. Deandre Ayton can’t be traded till January 15th, and not without his consent. Devin Booker, who the Suns have no interest in trading, can’t be traded for a full year anyway because of his new contract extension. Ultimately, I think the Suns are left short of what it would require to pry Kevin Durant out of Brooklyn.”
The best asset Phoenix has left to offer is Mikal Bridges, but he won’t move the needle enough nor match the contract of Durant. If the Suns were to include the likes of Jae Crowder in a deal, the money could match up. However, there just isn’t any player valuable enough to justify trading KD to them.
Considering how Durant had preferred Phoenix as a destination, their perceived removal from the race to trade for him has to be disappointing for KD. Whether he even gets moved this offseason is the burning question now, as the Nets have him under contract for 4 seasons. The Suns, meanwhile, will keep their core together and run it back for another season.
