Report: Suns to explore ‘every available trade option’ with Kevin Durant this offseason

According to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Phoenix Suns are expected to explore “every available trade option” with Kevin Durant this offseason. 

The Suns could also fire head coach Mike Budenholzer after just one season. 

“The Suns, as such, are widely expected to explore every available trade option with Kevin Durant this off-season while they are also routinely painted as a team that could be the next to go the Denver route and make changes both on the bench and in the front office,” Stein and Fischer wrote. “If Mike Budenholzer is indeed dismissed, he’d be the second consecutive Suns coach to be fired after Year 1 on a five-year contract.”

Durant will make $54.7 million next season in the final year of his contract. He turns 37 in September.

One of the best players in NBA history, Durant averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists for the Suns this season while shooting 52.7% from the field, 43.0% from beyond the arc and 83.9% from the free-throw line.

Durant has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Suns. He’s a two-time champion, a two-time Finals MVP, a one-time MVP and a four-time scoring champion. 

According to NBA insider Shams Charania of ESPN, Durant was open to getting traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat or San Antonio Spurs at this year’s trade deadline. 

An NBA source told Hoops Wire that the Timberwolves, Rockets, Heat, Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers will pursue Durant this offseason.

Durant has won only two postseason series since leaving the Warriors in 2019. 

According to NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Suns wanted a “massive haul” for Durant at the February trade deadline. 

“That is why at the trade deadline the Suns held talks with a handful of teams about Durant trades, conversations that are likely to lead to action this summer,” Windhorst wrote. “One of the reasons there wasn’t a Durant trade in February — other than Durant himself making it clear he didn’t want one — is the Suns were looking for a massive haul in return, per sources.”