NBA Trade Idea Sends Kevin Durant to New Unexpected Team

Another NBA season in the books, another offseason of wondering which city Kevin Durant will call home next. It seems crazy given how great of a player he is, but Durant will likely be headed to his fifth NBA team next season. After successful stints with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors, where he won two NBA Championships, Durant hasn’t been able to find the same success. 

With the Brooklyn Nets, Durant shared the court with his co-stars James Harden and Kyrie Irving just 16 times as injuries plagued their star trio all season. With the Phoenix Suns, injuries, the Bradley Beal trade, and lack of coaching continuity doomed the promising duo of Devin Booker and Durant as the Suns failed to even qualify for the Play-In. 

ESPN’s Shams Charania reports that Phoenix will work with Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman on a trade to a preferred destination this offseason. 

To preface things, I do not think that Sacramento will be a “preferred destination” for Durant, but there are very few teams that have trade chips and space to acquire Durant, so that list may grow a bit. 

There is a chance that the Kings want to take a big swing this offseason to compete for a championship with their veteran stars, making a Durant trade a real possibility.. Some fans and media have already started thinking about it.

Due to the current CBA, a Kevin Durant trade could get complicated. The Suns are a second apron team, which means they can only:

The Suns basically have two options: trade Durant straight up to a team with cap space or get a third team involved. Let’s look at both scenarios with the Kings being in the mix. 

Trade #1: The Kings move on from their star center

Kings receive: Kevin Durant

Suns receive: Domantas Sabonis, Devin Carter

There have been reports that Domantas Sabonis will be looking for clarity from Sacramento’s leadership on the direction of the franchise, and it is completely possible that he may ask for a trade if he doesn’t like what he hears. 

In this situation, the Kings decide that they’re ready to punt the Sabonis trade and see if bringing in one of the best scorers in NBA history will push them over the hump. A starting five of Lavine, DeRozan, Durant, Murray, and Valanciunus would certainly put up a ton of points, but defensive questions would remain. 

Trade #2: The Magic add firepower and the Suns get younger

Kings receive: Kevin Durant

Suns receive: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Wendell Carter Jr., Anthony Black, 2027 first-round pick (via SAC)

Magic receive: Zach LaVine, salary filler

Now this might be more interesting, the Orlando Magic have the cap space and players to take on LaVine’s large contract to facilitate a Durant trade to Sacramento, and the Suns get to grab a first-round pick and players to replace some of the likely free agent exits they will have. This will also create a Traded Player Exception (TPE) for Phoenix that will give them some flexibility to get reinforcements should they look to retool around Booker sooner rather than later. 

It’s pretty clear that the second trade is a better option for all parties involved, but should the Kings take on Durant at all? 

Durant is an all-world scorer and possibly one of the ten best NBA players of all time. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that trading LaVine for Durant would raise Sacramento’s ceiling, but the questions that remain are about Durant’s age and durability, not skill. Durant will be 37 next season and has dealt with a ton of injuries in his career, including an Achilles tear. 

I believe the Kings would be much better off not aging their roster right now, and as good as Durant is, acquiring him could put the Kings in the same boat as Phoenix is this season.

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