Kevin Durant reportedly has "a desire" to play with Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
The arms race for Kevin Durant is likely to produce a trade of such magnitude that it will have ripple effects on the NBA for the next decade. One of those ripples could lead to Devin Booker winning multiple championships.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Durant has “a desire” to play with Booker and Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul on the Phoenix Suns. Durant requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets just hours ahead of the start of free agency on June 30, with the Suns and Miami Heat quickly making the rounds as his top landing spots.
“Kevin Durant, that’s his preferred destination. Phoenix Suns, from everything I’ve been told, are his number one preferred destination. There’s a desire to go play with Devin Booker, to go play with Chris Paul,” Charania said Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show.
With four years, $194 million still remaining on Durant’s max contract, the Nets are in no way obligated to oblige by the trade request and ship him off. However, disgruntled superstars tend to get their way in the player empowerment era, and it would be more shocking than not if Durant wasn’t ultimately traded. If that means pairing him alongside Booker and maybe even Paul too, Phoenix would be expected to take over as the odds-on favorite to win the 2023 NBA Finals.
The Suns are one of the few franchises in the league with the talent pool and draft equity to pull off a trade of this caliber. A deal centering around Suns players DeAndre Ayton and Mikal Bridges plus at least four first-round picks and three pick swaps is likely where the conversations start. Phoenix would be reluctant to give up Booker in any potential deal (and it would defeat the purpose of the trade on their end) and it’s not likely the Nets would want a 37-year-old Paul as part of the bounty.
A pairing of Durant and Booker alone would strike fear into every franchise across the league, even if team depth is depleted in the trade’s wake. The two have already found success together as teammates for Team USA last summer, where they won a gold medal. If the Suns can manage to keep Paul around too and fill out the edges with veterans willing to sacrifice in order to win, we could be looking at a multi-year championship window for Phoenix.
Now actually pulling off such a deal could take weeks. Durant’s contract is massive and would require a lot of fancy financial work from both sides. This trade could require a third or fourth team just to make it all work out. Hell, there’s even a world in which Durant redacts his request entirely and plays the 2022-23 season with the Nets. But if Durant wants to play for Phoenix and the Suns can offer a package that makes Brooklyn happy, a deal will absolutely get done.
I’m all the way here for a Booker-Durant combo.
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