Which players might teams offer the Suns in a Kevin Durant trade?

It’s time to take a full account of what teams the Phoenix Suns are in contact with in the Kevin Durant trade talks. As in, it’s time to compile a pretty complete list of players who might be involved in any deal if — for sanity’s sake — we keep it to two-team deals.

Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro expects a Durant trade to be completed next week.

Gambadoro and others have reported that at least six teams are having discussions with Phoenix: The San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers are involved.

“There could be another wild card, or two. … I do believe his preferred destinations are the Texas teams,” Gambadoro said Thursday, adding that the Durant trade market might be more robust than people think.

Durant enters a contract year, making $54.7 million next season. He’s eligible to sign a two-year max extension with a new team if traded, which could help Phoenix get more in exchange. But Gambadoro believes the Suns have a shot at dictating a trade more on their terms.

“I think there are several teams interested in trading for Kevin Durant and not caring so much about the, ‘I got to get the extension done,'” Gambadoro said.

That belief leans on the projections at present: That a strong majority of NBA teams will be over the salary cap, putting Durant in a pickle if he reached free agency with his next team and entered the market. Only that team would hold his Bird Rights, which would allow it to re-sign him to a max deal where others over the cap could not.

Still, there would be a full calendar year for teams interested in Durant after 2025-26 to line up their salary books.

For now, let’s stick to the present and peek at the six named teams in the Durant chase.

We’ll list out the bigger player contracts that would need to head to Phoenix in a salary match, some smaller ones to move the needle financially and sweeten the deal for Phoenix, plus picks that could help the Suns this year. Not included are star players on other teams who we think will stick with the roster to help said teams remain competitive with Durant.

This is the start of the Suns’ attempts at a “pivot and reload.”

What could the suitors send to the Suns in a Kevin Durant trade of 2 teams?

Spurs

Big contracts to include: Devin Vassell ($27 million), Harrison Barnes ($19 million) and Keldon Johnson ($17.5 million)

Plus: Jeremy Sochan ($7.1 million), Malaki Branham ($5 million) and Julian Champagnie ($3 million)

Picks this year: Nos. 2, 14 (via Hawks), and 38

The Spurs have an easy avenue to landing Durant because they’ve re-signed role players early in their careers. It’s just that San Antonio has hit singles more than doubles or home runs with Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson, not to mention Jermey Sochan, while still on his rookie contract.

Do the Suns want to pay decently large contracts to players who already look like they are who they are? Counterpoint: Those guys are all rotation players for sure.

It seems pretty dang unlikely that reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle or the No. 2 pick would ever be on the table, but if Durant indeed would ink an extension here, I guess you never know.

Rockets

Big contracts to include: Jalen Green ($33.3 million) and Dillon Brooks ($22.1 million)

Plus: Reed Sheppard ($10.6 million), Jabari Smith Jr. ($12.4 million) and Jock Landale ($8 million)

Picks this year: Nos. 10 (via Phoenix) and 59 (via Oklahoma City)

This gets messy because Wingstop purveyor Jalen Green and has-he-hit-his-ceiling forward Jabari Smith Jr. each have souring stock. Green especially feels redundant with Devin Booker on board, and that’s before considering Bradley Beal’s current existence on Phoenix’s roster.

Sheppard didn’t get the chance to shine like Castle did in San Antonio because of his team’s competitiveness. It’s curious whether he or the No. 10 pick would be more valuable from Houston’s perspective … or Phoenix’s, for that matter.

Timberwolves

Big contracts to include: Rudy Gobert ($35 million), Julius Randle (via sign-and-trade) or Jaden McDaniels ($24.4 million)

Plus: Donte DiVincenzo ($12 million), Rob Dillingham ($6.6 million) and Terrence Shannon Jr. ($2.7 million)

Picks this year: Nos. 17 (via Detroit) and 31 (via Utah)

It looks like a Randle inclusion is out if this doesn’t go past the NBA Draft at the end of this month, but he’s worth mentioning. So is Jaden McDaniels, who I’m sure will not be on the table if the T-Wolves make such a move.

The T-Wolves’ draft capital is “meh,” but unlike other teams, they have a couple of very solid starting-caliber guys, a young piece and a draft pick to check three boxes.

A Gobert inclusion would blow up the T-Wolves’ current plan — I guess any KD acquisition does anyway — and of the options on the board be the closest to a true blockbuster trade of star versus niche skill star.

Clippers

Big contracts to include: Norman Powell ($19.2 million), Ivica Zubac ($11.7 million)

Plus: Derrick Jones Jr. ($9.5 million), Kris Dunn ($5.2 million)

Picks this year: Nos. 30 (via Oklahoma City) and 49 (via Minnesota)

The problem with the Clippers is that any deal straight up would require the collection of players listed above, because there aren’t massive contracts once you get past Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.

Los Angeles could check the box of getting the Suns some solid role players to compete right away. With all due respect to Jordan Ott, you could argue all of them might have been maxed out and optimized by head coach Ty Lue and that star-forward system.

On the Clippers’ end, what’s left if you have three stars and have to gut your roster from its top three role players? Powell’s stock is high, and dealing him and Zubac seems like a no-go from Los Angeles’ perspective.

Plus, any future picks included aren’t doing the Suns much good this year.

Heat

Big contracts to include: Andrew Wiggins ($28.2 million), Terry Rozier ($26.6 million, partially guaranteed) and Duncan Robinson ($19.9 million, early termination option)

Plus: Kyle Anderson ($9.2 million), Haywood Highsmith ($5.6 million) and Nikola Jovic ($4.4 million)

Picks this year: No. 20 (via Golden State)

Wiggins is on the downturn of his career but the theoretical perfect wing next to Booker.

Rozier fitting at all on Phoenix’s roster is a maybe and he’d possibly be an expiring contract to free up some cash. Ditto for Robinson.

Beyond that, Miami doesn’t have much in young draft capital or young players. Nikola Jovic, and former Arizona Wildcats forwards Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson all have different levels of juice if the Suns want to develop them.

Raptors

Big contracts to include: Immanuel Quickley ($32.5 million), R.J. Barrett ($27.7 million) and Jakob Poeltl ($19.5 million)

Plus: Ochai Agbaji ($6.4 million), Gradey Dick ($5 million) and Ja’Kobe Walter ($3.6 million)

Picks this year: Nos. 9 and 39 or 40 (via Portland)

Quietly, the Raptors have some decent players who would be intriguing next to Booker. Perfect fits? No.

Barrett had a solid season with more on his plate (on a bad team), and Poeltl is the reliable starting center the Suns are looking for.

Throw in a top-10 pick and it looks decent, but you wonder how Durant would react to moving north of the border on a team that doesn’t look like a winner — even if it also added Brandon Ingram at the trade deadline while he was injured.

Related

Don Nelson, second-winningest NBA coach who won 5 titles as a Celtics player, dies at 86Dillon Brooks officially signs extension with Suns, becoming long-term pieceNFL OL Andrus Peat, brother of Koa, announces retirementSuns reveal 2026 preseason scheduleHas LeBron James set himself up to pass Michael Jordan with move to 76ers? Has he already?Suns’ new starting lineup will run into immediate problems