Kevin Durant Seemingly Has Heart Set On Suns

Nets star Kevin Durant has the Suns at the top of his wish list when it comes to his next destination, per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

Durant requested a trade at the start of free agency, with the Suns and Heat reportedly being his preferred landing spots. 

“The only thing is I’ve heard from people who would know is that KD has his heart set on Phoenix,” Fischer said on a recent podcast.

This report follows one from ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who said that the Suns are “by far No. 1” for Durant. Fischer added that the Heat are “right behind” the Suns.

While the Nets appear to be open to trading Durant to one of his desired locations, their priority is clearly finding the best deal for themselves, as relayed by Brian Lewis of the New York Post.

“Nets general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai had agreed to work with Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman to try to trade him to one of his preferred landing spots,” Lewis wrote. “But in the end, Durant and Irving are expected to be moved where and when it works best for Nets management.”

Like everyone, the Suns would love to add Durant, who has four years remaining on his contract. But like everyone, there are obstacles. Word is, they don’t want to gut a team that reached the Finals two seasons ago.

Nor do they seemingly want to play center Deandre Ayton a maximum contract — making him a bona fide sign-and-trade candidate.

The Nets, of course, are seeking a massive haul for Durant.

“We have a pretty gigantic gulf between what the Nets’ value of Kevin Durant is and what the market is willing to pay,” Windhorst said on Get Up, via Real GM. “Again, this requires some nuance and I know that this potentially will be taken out of that context.

“Kevin Durant is obviously a very valuable player. Nobody doubts that this guy is still in his prime years as an MVP level candidate, who can completely swing a team from pretender to contender with his presence.

“However, the market does not want to pay a super premium price for him because if you trade away all of these top assets on your team to get him, he becomes less valuable to you. And that gulf is why we’re in a stalemate right now and could have one for a while.”

Along with Durant, the Nets reportedly have been exploring trades centered on Kyrie Irving. We have more on those developments right here.