It looks like Kevin Durant might have played his last game for the Phoenix Suns. After a disappointing season where the Suns didn`t even make the play-in tournament, the team is planning some big changes for next season. The first change was firing head coach Mike Budenholzer, their third coaching change in three years.
Now, the Suns might trade Durant. According to reports, Phoenix is expected to talk to other teams about trading Durant and will work with him to find a team he wants to play for. They are also thinking about trading Bradley Beal, but his contract makes that much harder. It`s more likely Beal might get his contract bought out if they can`t trade him.
Trade rumors about Durant have been around all season. Before the trade deadline in February, there was almost a deal to send Durant back to the Golden State Warriors, but he stopped it because he didn`t want to play there again. Recently, it was reported that several teams, including the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets, were interested in Durant before the deadline.
The Rockets have been interested in Durant for a while, so maybe this summer they will try to get him. Durant played very well for the Suns, averaging 26.6 points, six rebounds, and 4.2 assists, while shooting very efficiently. He and Devin Booker were the main players for the Suns all season, but they couldn`t win enough games.
Because of this, the Suns will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020. If Durant`s time with the Suns is over, it will have included two playoff appearances and only one series win in three seasons. This is definitely not what Phoenix expected when they traded a lot to get him from the Brooklyn Nets. Injuries have been a factor, but the Suns also didn`t have many other good players around their stars because they traded away assets to get Beal as well.
It seems the Suns are now ready to start over or make big changes to build a better team. Trading Durant could bring them back a lot of valuable pieces to rebuild around Booker in the future.
Jasper Hawthorne