Woj: Suns 'Pretty Close to Pivoting' to John Collins Trade During Kevin Durant Talks

Before pulling off one of the biggest blockbuster trades in NBA history to acquire Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets, the Phoenix Suns were apparently "close to pivoting" and making a deal for Atlanta forward John Collins instead, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

"[Governor Mat Ishbia's] aggressiveness to give up a lot to get Kevin Durant, all of that, at once, led to very late Wednesday night when Phoenix and Ishbia and James Jones were pretty close to pivoting to do a John Collins deal in Atlanta," Wojnarowski said. "I think they were going to do a three-way deal through Detroit, and then they re-engaged with the Nets late Wednesday night."

Instead, Ishbia pushed and wound up getting a top-five player in the NBA in Durant who automatically makes the Suns one of the favorites to win the title.

Phoenix ended up trading away Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder and four unprotected first-round picks in exchange for Durant and T.J. Warren.

Meanwhile, Collins, who's been the subject of trade rumors for the last couple of years, will stay put with the Hawks for the rest of the season.

In his fifth year out of Wake Forest, Collins has been a key cog in the Hawks organization since being drafted in the first round of the 2017 draft. This season has been well below his standard, however.

He is averaging 13.3 points per game, the lowest since his rookie season. Collins has also been struggling with his efficiency, hitting career-lows in field goal percentage (51.2 percent) and three-point shooting (25.3 percent).

Atlanta sits eighth in the Eastern Conference and are 2.5 games behind the Miami Heat to get out of the play-in spots. They did, however, add forward Saddiq Bey from Detroit at the deadline, who could potentially give them a spark down the stretch.