Would it make any sense for the Phoenix Suns to trade Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets?

Would it make any sense for the Phoenix Suns to trade Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets?

NBA draft day and who better to uh to break down some NBA draft talk and know some of the other Silly Season information that has been dispersed over the last 12 hours than our very own son’s Guru Kellen Olsen killer how we doing this morning what’s up buddy great to see your face great to see you wolf how we doing appreciate it killer doing well man what I want to know is where are the Suns going to go tonight do you have any gut feeling right now like one move they’re going to make that you’re sure of what is it killer if I had to guess right now he would be picking at 22 because I think their best option I think they would agree is trading down from 22 but we talk about it theoretically all the time and getting two teams to agree on anything at that point it seems fair simple for us to just go oh well yeah Utah probably doesn’t wi 29 and 32 so they would take that and and take 22 they’d like to move up seven spots but it’s something that comes with negotiations and why we rarely see these moves but with that said we do and it greatly interests the Suns to pursue this because the bottom line in the in the talent drop off of the NBA draft as a whole is that at a certain point you get kind of mushed together with tiers of players and I think the guy that you take at 22 isn’t really going to be much better than the guy you take at 37 with what the Suns one in mind now at 22 you could get USC point guard as Z cier who I believe has All-Star upside now he he a raw talent and wouldn’t be ready for NBA minutes right away so let’s cross him off the list right now that makes a lot of sense but if you want someone who is ready to play right now I think the guy you take at 22 isn’t going to be that different from the guy you take at 29 32 37 so the sun’s trading down and getting two or three guys who are ready for minutes right now and seeing if hopefully one works out because K we’ve been talking about this offseason for so long the bottom line is how do they get a rotation player out of this offseason how do they add another piece that you can certifiably rely on because right now you’re looking at six guys assuming Roy Soo comes back you’re looking at six guys you need to get to at least seven if you can get to eight that’s wonderful so maybe you hit on a veterans minimum signing you hit on the trffic you’re eight deep that’s all you need but you need those guys because we saw there was a lot wrong in the Minnesota series but Chief among them was once Grace n got hurt they just didn’t have any anywhere to go right right positionally um if they stick at 22 or even let’s say trade down a couple of spots positionally where do you think it Stacks point guard Wing big Wing point guard big I think with what they want I I think this is a really good point guard class for where they are in the draft but again it’s what they want and uh the kid out of Spain Juan Nunes I think is really intriguing in the 30s but he is someone who is going to need to take time even AJ Mitchell out of UC Santa Barbara is a point guard who is gained a bit of traction with the comparisons of Jaylen Brunson and how he can get to the ri and how he can score a bit those guys are going to take time I think kch is really the only guy and another guy I love Jamal shed way later in the draft are the two guys who I think are have a good shot to play right away and play okay uh but when I look at Wing I think that’s where there are a couple more possibilities with the skill set you would need and I think comparing and contrasting these prospects K over the last couple of weeks I think people can you can find contradictions in what I’m asking out of a point guard to do as opposed to what I’m asking a center to do but that’s because a point guard has so much more to do on the floor if you take a demo down to UCLA at 37 all you want him to do is run as hard as he can up and down the floor grab every rebound be in the right spot on both ends that’s it that is all he needs to do is hustle rebound be in the right spot and he is one of he might have the highest motor in the draft I really like him as a trade down Target so I think it’s more towards Center and Wing just because of what you’d be asking for them to do we’re asking for a rookie to come in and play Rotation minutes right away asking a point guard to do that is a lot tougher than a wing or a center so you know right now as K calls it it is Silly Season that is going on right now um talk to me about just how absolutely silly it is right now do you believe that somehow some way the Suns might actually move Kevin Durant or Devin Booker right I think the thing that is the most difficult for most NBA fans to do right now in today’s Information Age age is taking the information you get for what it is and taking it at face value as opposed to looking three or four steps down the line because speculation is super fun and looking into the possibilities of the craziest thing that could be happening is really fun here’s the here’s what happened the New York Nets or the New York Knicks ex excuse me blew away the Brooklyn Nets they were listening to offers on Mel Bridges they weren’t really too psyched on any of them and then the Knicks just blew them out and said the Nets were like oh my gosh we have to do this offer what the Nets realize though is in order to do this offer we’re going to be terrible next year if we trade Mel Bridges oh we don’t have our pick next year we need to go get our pick so they call Houston who is like okay yeah we’ll do this oh great we have the sons pick now great this isn’t anything where Houston was the aggressor here and went we want Kevin Durant we’re going to go get it was just circumstance inbound phone call it was circumstance from three different things that happened we’re never talking about this if Mel Bridges doesn’t get traded so where did it come from how did we get here that’s how we got here and I’ll say this how I can you know where information is coming from you know what sides it’s coming from most of this information we’re seeing today is from Houston let’s just say let’s just call it for what it is we’re hearing it from the Houston side they are interested in Kevin Durant great I’m interested in a lot of things in my life that doesn’t mean that I can get them you know I would love to have a three-bedroom apartment right now it’s not happening you know I’m in reality that’s okay that’s great they don’t want to give me that three-bedroom apartment for 1,200 a month they’re not going to do it we’re not going to give you Kevin Durant for whatever they’re offering right now you know what the Suns don’t want picks why would Matt ishbel want draft picks right now why would he care now if Houston wants to offer Alper shener Jabari Smith Jr Dylan Brooks and two first round picks hey now let’s talk on the phone for a bit right but if you want to come here talking about 2027 and 2029 by the way 2025 is not a first round pick it’s a swap and the suns are probably going to be better than the Rockets next year anyway so that doesn’t really matter that’s not really of interest to the Suns we’re talking about two oh yeah but the 2029 pick has some conditionals on it we’re not talking about that on the TV though right you know so why let a few facts get in the way of a of a story that’s snowballing the one thing we’re waiting for here is we know the Suns don’t want to trade Kevin Durant if Kevin Durant’s feelings on being in Phoenix suddenly change now we’re talking but until we hear that from someone who is speaking with Kevin Durant then no thank you I do not need speculation I’m sure K you hear stuff all the time just like me do I go out and yell it in the streets every time I hear it no hearing from Houston that Kevin Durant wants out fantastic that’s great have they spoken with Kevin Durant 99.9% sure they have not heard it directly from Kevin Durant they heard it from another executive who heard it from another executive rival executives are talking all the time right now you know for C can I just jump in here and say this you know me killer on this My Philosophy about sports of course and just the fact that I’ve been around it a lot and been in locker room a lot almost my entire life as a matter of fact if you were going to tell me that Mike buen Holzer came in here new coach and said you know what um I want to create a new culture here and I want to build it around Devin Booker hypothetically I could see that happening I I I’m not saying that is what’s happening I’m saying hypothetically I could see that happening and if you’re going to build your culture around Devin Booker you’re going to move Kevin Durant and one of the reasons why you would move Kevin Durant is because Devin Booker is always going to defer to Kevin Durant I’m just saying no totally and it’s because of the humility that book has that is a scenario that I believe could be a possibility again am I saying that’s happening no I’m not I’m not reporting anything but just being around Sports as long as I have and being in a locker room as long as I have and believing in culture the way that I do there’s a possibility there’s a possibility that you could convince me the sons would be interested in that this is a consequence of losing in today’s NBA that I think a lot of people don’t realize do you remember all the chatter after the Dallas series two years ago and how Monty Williams this DeAndre Aon that Jay Crowder this Chris Paul that this is just what happens now is when you underachieve people start talking people start talking to people who are talking to other people and then you try and piece together what exactly is happenening and then all of a sudden you’ve got a half substantiated thing on what’s going on here and what’s going on there uh it’s the world that we live in today like I said with reporting it it is what it is but again to look at it from that perspective and the leadership of the Suns wolf they’re head decision makers they want to win if you listen to what Matt isia says he just wants to do whatever is the best for winning right now and I believe and I think they totally believe that at least another year of this experiment whatever you want to call it is the best path forward right now if they felt differently we’d have a whole conversation here about like the best options and okay what teams would be interested in Kevin Durant look it it would have to be Kevin Durant forcing himself to Houston for Houston to even get in on this in my opinion because what the Suns would want is making another competitive team going forward Houston’s making this trade is interested in this trade because they feel like they need a superstar next to all their great young Talent you can’t get the Superstar without giving up a great young Talent so then they’d kind of be stuck in a similar situation to the Suns where the Suns would be going from two superstars to one us would be going from Z to one but they would lose a lot of their young Talent just like the Suns did when they acquired Kevin Durant in the first place it’s a tricky Middle Ground to find that has a lot of substance to it but you know there’s lower thirds to fill on TV and stuff so we are had a perfect way to close it out thanks for watching wolf and Luke tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports

Arizona Sports’ Phoenix Suns insider Kellan Olson joined Wolf & Luke to look ahead at what options the organization has ahead of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night amid rumors of the Houston Rockets aiming to trade for Kevin Durant.

Video: Felisa Cárdenas and Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports
Photos: Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports; Getty Images

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