The Suns are not promising to move Kevin Durant to one of his preferred destinations, reports Marc Stein for The Stein Line (Substack link). Although Phoenix would like to find a win-win trade, the club is intent on acquiring the best return to position itself for a Durant-less future.
Given that the Suns surrendered much of their first-round draft pick equity as well as valuable players in Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson to bring Durant in, recouping as much value as possible is crucial as they attempt to reshape the roster on the fly around Devin Booker.
So while the Spurs, Rockets, and Heat are reportedly atop Durant’s wish list (the Knicks would have been too if they were serious about pursuing the star forward, Stein writes), the Raptors or any number of other wild-card teams could still be in play.
We have more from the Suns:
- Duane Rankin of Arizona Republic confirms Stein’s reporting, while adding that finding a balance between the team’s interests and doing right by the player can be important in a league that is increasingly star-driven. Another factor that Rankin says will play a big part is the pressure on newly elevated general manager Brian Gregory to impress ownership and fans with the trade return after the team underperformed dramatically last season.
- People in the league expect a Durant deal to happen as early as this coming week, reports Rankin. Rankin adds that the Rockets would appear to be the ideal destination for Durant, given their young, defensive infrastructure and bounty of both players and draft capital to use in a trade. However, the Suns have always had more interest than the Rockets in a Durant-to-Houston deal, Stein notes.
- Ryan Nembhard, brother of Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, is set to visit the Suns for a pre-draft workout this week, according to Rankin. The Gonzaga guard, who averaged 10.5 points and an NCAA-leading 9.8 assists per game this season, is set to visit more than 15 teams during the pre-draft process, Rankin writes.