An Offseason 3-Team Trade Idea if Suns Deal Kevin Durant
The Phoenix Suns (29-33) held off the LA Clippers on Wednesday in a rare victory for a team with higher expectations than 11th place in early March. The win may spark a late run through the play-in tournament into the playoffs for a deep postseason run.
More likely, the season ends abruptly with the future of Kevin Durant hanging over the franchise. The former league MVP will be entering his final season with a $54.7 million expiring contract. Many around the NBA believe he's seeking a two-year max extension worth $123.8 million—initially expected to be with Phoenix—but with the team's struggles the last two years, that's no longer a lock.
Instead, the Suns and Durant may part ways—possibly in an extend-and-trade, rewarding the 36-year-old forward almost as much ($122.1 million) as he'd get with Phoenix. Of course, with the complex rules of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, a Durant trade may inevitably turn into a multi-team deal.
The following is an offseason three-team trade idea, sending Durant back to Texas (not to the Longhorns but to the Houston Rockets) via the Utah Jazz.
Full Trade Scenario
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Suns get:
- Lauri Markkanen (from Jazz)
- Jock Landale (from Rockets)
- Lower 2025 first-rounder from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Suns (via Rockets or Jazz)
Rockets get:
- Kevin Durant (from Suns)
Jazz get:
- Reed Sheppard (from Rockets)
- Jabari Smith Jr. (from Rockets)
- Cam Whitmore (from Rockets)
- Aaron Holiday (from Rockets)
- Jeff Green (from Rockets)
- Jae'Sean Tate (from Rockets)
- Higher 2025 first-rounder from the Timberwolves and Suns (via Rockets)
- $20.4 million trade exception (Markkanen)
Notes: The trade would wait to be executed on July 6, after the NBA's annual moratorium. The draft lottery will be held on May 12, so the slotting of picks will be long-established. If the Timberwolves and/or Suns win top picks, the trade will need adjustment for their higher valuations.
The Rockets currently own the Suns' 2025 first-rounder from prior deals, and the Jazz have the Minnesota first. Utah will get the more favorable of the two; Phoenix will receive the lower.
Green and Tate would sign and trade from the Rockets to the Jazz for $7.7 million each. Their deals would be three years long, but only the first seasons would be fully guaranteed.
The Jazz take in Whitmore via the existing PJ Tucker trade exception. They would also use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to bring in Smith and the bi-annual exception for Holiday.
Why the Phoenix Suns Do It
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What the Suns "should" do and what "will" they do are different topics. Should Phoenix reset with the bounty of younger players from the Rockets? Yes, that's probably their best path forward.
However, several competing executives believe the Suns will continue to spend top dollar to try and win with Devin Booker (as he may be next on the list of trade what-ifs). That's where Markkanen, the almost 28, seven-foot scoring big with the Jazz, comes into play.
Replacing a generational talent like Durant is impossible, but he's also nearer the end of his career than Markkanen, who was an All-Star in 2022-23. The Jazz have been progressively tanking for lottery position the last few years. Markkanen's numbers may be down this year (19.3 points per game), but he doesn't have much to play for as Utah purposefully craters to the bottom in pursuit of talent like Duke's Cooper Flagg.
Few teams would be willing to take on Markkanen's $195.8 million due over the next four seasons, but as one agent said of the Suns' owner, "[Mat] Ishbia doesn't care about the money."
Phoenix would also take in Landale (who played for the franchise in 2022-23) with his $8 million salary made fully guaranteed by Houston to execute the trade. The Suns cannot aggregate contracts in trade as a team projected to be over the NBA's second apron. Still, contracts like Cody Martin ($8.7 million), Vasilije Micić ($8.7 million) and Landale can be traded individually for equal or lower returning salary.
The Suns also get a first-rounder in June's draft, which projects in the 15-20 range.
Would the team be better off long-term with Sheppard, Whitmore and Smith? This version of the Suns is probably more likely to go after a player like Markkanen.
Why the Houston Rockets Do It
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The Rockets would test the waters on Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. While Amen Thompson would be off the table, this projection from October isn’t far off from the kind of move Houston might look to make. The minor details may have changed, but Antetokounmpo likely trumps Durant for the Rockets.
Assuming the Bucks and Antetokounmpo are clearly continuing their relationship for the foreseeable future, the Rockets could add a generational scorer to a team that has struggled this season for points.
Durant isn’t in All-Star Alperen Şengün’s age range, but then LeBron James and Luka Dončić have an even wider gap with the Los Angeles Lakers. Durant is one of the league’s brightest stars of the last two decades, and Houston wouldn’t give up much of its core to get him.
Smith is due an extension this summer, and the Rockets may not be willing to pay. Sheppard has tremendous offensive talent but barely gets the time to show it on this win-now, defense-first version of the Rockets. Whitmore was a draft-day steal at No. 20 in 2023, but he’s relatively expendable for a star like Durant, as are the rest of the outgoing players and the Minnesota first-round pick.
Houston would opt Fred VanVleet out of his $44.9 million option and look to re-sign him at a more reasonable figure. Durant would join Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Tari Eason, Şengün and Thompson. The roster would round out with minimum players, possibly more if VanVleet’s new figure is lower than $30 million.
Why the Utah Jazz Do It
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How does Utah’s young core with players like Keyonte George, Isaiah Collier and their upcoming lottery pick mesh with Markkanen when he’s nearing the end of his prime by the time the rest of the franchise is ready to win at a high level?
If they landed Flagg in the draft with the top overall pick, that might make Markkanen even more expendable as Sarah Todd of the Deseret News wrote on Thursday, "Flagg might require trading Markkanen or [Walker] Kessler, and the Jazz already know that there is a market for both players and that teams will be willing to pay a pretty good price."
Cashing out on his massive contract—one some teams won’t touch based on its magnitude alone—into high-level prospects like Sheppard, Whitmore and Smith seems like an obvious win. The Jazz also get a $20.4 million trade exception and the Suns’ first-rounder via Houston (assuming it doesn’t land at the top of the lottery, which would shift the Rockets’ thinking).
Whatever Smith expects in an extension, it won’t be near what the Jazz are paying Markkanen. The roster glut would be problematic, with 18 players plus four draft picks (two in the first round). The Jazz would need to make additional moves to clear space by waiving or trading to get to the regular-season limit of 15—but financially, Utah would be well below the luxury-tax threshold.
Ultimately, the Jazz are the winner here. The Suns may succeed with Markkanen, but their depth issues and sky-high payroll remain. Houston may have a more credible chance to compete immediately in the postseason by giving up on young talent. But the Jazz get out of one of the league’s larger contracts to give their youth movement an immediate boost.
Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him @EricPincus on X and Bluesky.
