During the 22-23 season, the Phoenix Suns had trade conversations with the Toronto Raptors on a deal for either OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam. Those conversations were not considered serious and ended when they acquired Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets.
“An interesting little Phoenix tidbit that’s not relevant anymore, that’s not even close to relevant anymore, but it’s just interesting: they were, I learned this week, they were in talks with the Raptors on either, not both, but either Siakam or Anunoby before the Durant thing became viable for them,” said Zach Lowe on his podcast this week. “And they pivoted everything to the Durant thing. Which you pivot to Kevin Durant.
“Let me be clear: I don’t think the talks were serious. I don’t think they were going to end up with either of those guys, but it shows the optionality that they had before they went this route.
“Clearly, Toronto didn’t trade those guys…”
It was reported last February that the Suns had interest in trading for Anunoby as well as Fred VanVleet. Phoenix also had interest in Kyrie Irving before the Durant trade.
The Raptors waited until the 23-24 season to trade both Anunoby and Siakam with the former going to the New York Knicks and the latter being moved to the Indiana Pacers.