ESPN’s Marks explains how Kevin Durant could dictate any trade return for Suns
Kevin Durant could be traded, but the Phoenix Suns will get the most value if they find a taker who will also extend him.
Watch: What could the haul be if the Phoenix Suns trade Kevin Durant? | 7 mins
Maybe the Phoenix Suns squeak into the play-in round of the postseason. Maybe they fall flat with the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA.
Regardless, they need a hard look in the mirror to determine how things have gone south the past two-plus seasons. Financially, a summer trade of Kevin Durant appears the best way out of this roster mess — and he’s even admitted that looks like a possibility after the Suns shopped him at the trade deadline.
What could Phoenix get in return? ESPN’s Bobby Marks doesn’t think it’ll be close to what the Suns gave up for him: Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and a slew of first-round picks and swaps.
“A lot of it he’ll dictate as far as what you can get in value based on him (being) willing to extend with that team,” Marks told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Tuesday. “He can extend for I think two years, $120 million dollars.
“If there’s a team out there willing to throw … a lot at Phoenix and he’s not willing to extend, that’s probably not going to be a deal that will happen.”
And that is why, if the Suns do aim to move Durant, it’d be in their best interests to work with him by finding a new team that he is excited to join.
Durant’s current contract pays out $54.7 million next season, but a two-year extension would run through his age-39 season.
If he can get through the end of this season with the Suns cleanly, then maybe another team will consider the risk.
The reward could be something like this: Durant is averaging 26.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game this year, while shooting 53% overall and 40% from deep.
Plugging him in with a younger squad that needs an ace scorer is possible. Marks believes the playoffs have to play out before Phoenix might be able to start landing on potential trade frameworks.
“We won’t know (who is interested) until we get to the first or second round here. Whether it be if Houston loses in the first round and they say, ‘You know what, we’re going to accelerate this retool of our roster a little bit further down the road.’ … We see it every year.
“You don’t know what the market is until we probably get through the playoffs.”
Is a Kevin Durant trade the biggest need for the Suns looking to 2025-26?
Phoenix’s problems, however, don’t get solved with a Durant trade alone.
He has been a relatively constant presence on the team the past two-plus seasons and under three head coaches.
Blame doesn’t stop with the players — or the coaches.
“I do think you kind of need a full audit of everything that goes on in that basketball operations department,” Marks said of how the Suns have to approach reviewing the past few seasons. “Certainly within the coaching staff, the front office and the players — and you can include ownership in there. You can start that right now. You just got to figure out: How did it go so bad?
“In the (2021) NBA Finals to now multiple coaches, certainly the ownership change and now we’re not even talking about getting swept in the first round. We’re talking about not even getting to the first round here. I think that starts right there in terms of a full audit.”
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22 Comments
“Oklahoma took years to rebuild post KD”
The Thunder won 40+ games for four straight years after KD left for Golden State. Westbrook even won the MVP award in his first season playing without KD. They even managed to swing big trades for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony,.
The Thunder weren’t able to successfully rebuild after trading Chris Paul to Phoenix, ironically. They missed the Playoffs for three straight seasons after that trade (‘21, ‘22 and ‘23). Which hadn’t happened to them since ‘06 to ‘09.
In other words: the Thunder did just fine rebuilding after KD left them in free agency.
”New Jersey is in shambles”
That’s because they never learned from past mistakes. Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace was a failed experiment. So was Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry. It cost them draft picks that turned into Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who are reigning champions in Boston.
Their lack of success has less to do with KD and more to do with bad decisions made by two different front offices going back to 2012. At least they got some good pieces for KD in Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. They got fleeced in the trades they did for Harden and Kyrie, and further laments the vicious cycle of dysfunction that is the Nets organization.
“Get as far away from Isaiah Thomas as you possibly can, fire James Jones and bring in a new GM. Get better basketball people around you, and let them do their job!”
Isiah Thomas isn’t a shadow GM in Phoenix, but it’s an interesting theory. This notion that Ishbia is a meddling owner just isn’t accurate per reliable sources within the Suns organization. Gerald Bourguet just posted an article on Go PHNX yesterday which points to James Jones and Josh Bartlestein being the main culprits in the trades for KD and Beal as well as Ayton-to-Portland. It’s a good read and here’s an excerpt from it below:
”Multiple sources within the Suns organization have pushed back on the idea that Mat Ishbia is the one making all the basketball decisions. As Ishbia promised on Day 1 at his introductory press conference, he’s an involved owner, but the decision-making process starts with general manager James Jones and CEO Josh Bartelstein collaborating together before bringing their potential plans to Ishbia for approval.
“This notion that he’s doing things on his own or going rogue or just kind of calling teams?” one source said. “Like, Mat runs a mortgage company. So he’s not watching NBA basketball all day and scouting. He knows [the game], he played it, he watched it, but nothing that’s happened since he’s bought the team has been Mat Ishbia being like, ‘Well, screw you guys, I want this player, I’m just gonna do it.’ He’s too smart for that, and that’s not how he operates.”
The Suns scoff at the idea of Ishbia scouting draft prospects or potential trade targets. Some conspiracy theorists viewed the team’s inside look at their draft “war room” as an effort to spin that perception, but it genuinely appears as though Ishbia is involved in the decision-making, but ultimately delegates to Jones, Bartelstein and a larger basketball operations team.”
How is this KD's fault? Dude only continues to play very well and is the best player on the Suns. Not his fault they surround him with trash.
Like Brian Windhorst said at the trade deadline: the Suns are good at acquiring talent, but not good at team building.