Kevin Durant 3-team Trade Idea to Get NBA Star out of Phoenix
There's still a week and change left in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, but the Phoenix Suns, despite being the most expensive team in the league, are probably done.
They're in 11th place and missing Kevin Durant, who's out with an ankle injury. Even if they do sneak into the play-in, it's tough to imagine them winning the two games they need to snag the eighth seed and face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And the whole disaster of a campaign has naturally led many to wonder about KD's future. So much so that ESPN's Shams Charania reported this week the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs could all go after the 36-year-old this summer.
Below, we'll look at a potential three-team trade that would send Durant to one of those spots.
The Trade
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As always, we'll show the entire framework of the trade up front, before diving into specifics on why each team should entertain it.
Spurs Receive: Kevin Durant and a 2030 second-round pick from Brooklyn.
Spurs Lose: Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, a 2025 first-round pick (via Atlanta), a 2026 first-round pick swap, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2031 first-round pick.
Suns Receive: Nicolas Claxton, Keldon Johnson, a 2025 first-round pick from San Antonio (via Atlanta), a 2029 first-round pick from San Antonio and a 2031 first-round pick from San Antonio.
Suns Lose: Kevin Durant and a 2025 second-round pick (via Denver).
Nets Receive: Devin Vassell, a 2025 second-round pick from Phoenix (via Denver) and a 2026 first-round pick swap from San Antonio.
Nets Lose: Nicolas Claxton and a 2030 second-round pick.
Feel free to quibble over some of the picks and smaller contracts involved. The foundation is what's most important, and it's broken down into further detail below.
Spurs Accelerate the Timeline
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Spurs Receive: Kevin Durant and a 2030 second-round pick from Brooklyn
Spurs Lose: Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, a 2025 first-round pick (via Atlanta), a 2026 first-round pick swap, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2031 first-round pick
It's not hard to see why the Spurs were listed among the potential KD suitors. Victor Wembanyama is a timeline-changer all by himself. Had he avoided the deep vein thrombosis that ended his 2024-25 campaign early, San Antonio might have competed for a play-in spot.
In Year 3, with De'Aaron Fox now on the roster, the playoffs almost feel like a foregone conclusion.
The Spurs now have an All-Star-level point guard and an All-NBA-level big man. It's only natural to want one more high-impact player in between them, and Durant would slot perfectly into one of the forward/wing spots alongside Harrison Barnes.
At 36 and on his fourth team since leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder, he might even be ready to accept life as a No. 3 or 2B option, too.
Giving up all that draft capital and two rotation-level wings may seem like a lot for a player so far past his prime (and one with the internal drama that's seemingly followed KD to multiple stops now), but in purely basketball terms, it's not a hard sell.
Durant is one of the most malleable high-level scorers of all time. His shooting, playmaking and willingness to play off the ball (best evidenced during his time with the Golden State Warriors) would make him a near-perfect complement to Wemby.
Suns Stay Competitive
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Suns Receive: Nicolas Claxton, Keldon Johnson, a 2025 first-round pick from San Antonio (via Atlanta), a 2029 first-round pick from San Antonio and a 2031 first-round pick from San Antonio
Suns Lose: Kevin Durant and a 2025 second-round pick (via Denver)
There's an argument that Phoenix should go all-in on a full-scale rebuild. Trade KD and Devin Booker, horde as many draft assets as possible, wait out Bradley Beal's contract (which expires in 2027, assuming he picks up his $57.1 million player option) and start over.
A Booker trade may be the most important part of that approach, too. He doesn't have the career resume Durant does, but he's eight years younger. He'd almost certainly command a bigger return from potential trade partners.
But he's also the kind of talent teams tank for in the first place. When right, Booker can be a top 10-15 player. He's just entering his prime at 28. And last time he was in a functional basketball situation (before Phoenix blew up a promising young core for KD), he made the NBA Finals.
Trying to retool on the fly and around him would be a reasonable path to take. And this deal represents that.
Nic Claxton has taken something of a step back in terms of advanced numbers this season, but he has more upside at the 5 than Nick Richards. He moves well for a big on the perimeter, protects the rim and can be a dangerous rim-running finisher.
Keldon Johnson is also having a down year, but he's only 25 and has shown flashes of real upside as a slasher. In 2022-23, he averaged 22.0 points and could relieve Booker of some of the pressure he'd be under as a scorer post-Durant.
But the real get here, of course, is the draft capital.
At his age and with his injury history, it's hard to imagine KD going for some eye-popping haul of picks, but San Antonio is among the teams that could justify parting with two or three.
The Spurs already have a potential all-timer who has barely turned 21. And this deal has them keeping their own lottery pick this summer. A little focus on the present is fine for them.
Nets Cash In on Phoenix Chaos
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Nets Receive: Devin Vassell, a 2025 second-round pick from Phoenix (via Denver) and a 2026 first-round pick swap from San Antonio
Nets Lose: Nicolas Claxton and a 2030 second-round pick
This is probably the hardest sell of the exercise, but the Brooklyn Nets have Day'Ron Sharpe, who's two years younger and was arguably better than Claxton this season, entering restricted free agency.
Moving Claxton would open up an opportunity for Sharpe to step into the starting role next season. And Devin Vassell is the kind of three-and-D wing who's an easy plug-and-play fit in most lineups. He's also just 24 years old (a year younger than Claxton).
But Brooklyn's primary desire to get in on this would be the draft picks. Given the fact that Claxton's annual salary is around $7 million less than Vassell's, and his deal ends one year sooner, Phoenix can justify redirecting the pick swap from San Antonio to the Nets.
