He’s not calling the shots, but he’s setting the tone. Durant’s trade saga may just hinge on draft night.
It’s been the NBA’s most captivating subplot for weeks: Will Kevin Durant be traded? And if so, when? But with the NBA Finals between Oklahoma City and Indiana on the verge of delivering a riveting seven-game classic, league attention has (for now) shifted back to the court.
For Suns fans, however, the quiet has only intensified the anticipation.
Robert Edwards-Imagn Images
There’s a strange calm over Phoenix. The kind of silence that hangs just before a monsoon breaks, or just before a franchise alters its trajectory with a single blockbuster trade.
Kevin Durant’s name has been tossed around more in trade rumors than in All-NBA debates lately. His preferences, reportedly, are out there now: Houston, Miami, San Antonio. Cities where the tax burden is lighter, the spotlight burns brighter, or the front offices are fresher. But despite the noise, he’s still here, still in the Valley. And maybe that’s where he’ll stay until the final minutes of NBA Draft night.
Durant wants control. The Suns want value. A global fanbase wants resolution. No one’s quite getting what they want…yet.
“The Suns have a price threshold that they want met in a trade for Kevin Durant and I had one team tell me today it’s a game of chicken right now..
The Rockets, Heat, and Timberwolves are literally one or two pieces away from getting a deal done”@ShamsCharania #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/LLns2g1B4C
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 19, 2025
The Clock is Ticking…But to What End?
Trade chatter reached fever pitch last week, so much so that league insiders feared the saga would overshadow the NBA Finals. And rightly so. When Kevin Durant might be traded, for real this time, even a seven-game battle between Oklahoma City and Indiana has to fight for the headline.
But now, with Game 7 just two days away and the NBA Draft barely a week out, the window for a deal feels less like an open door and more like a pressure valve.
Here’s the crux: If Phoenix truly wants to extract top-tier value for Durant, they may need to be prepared to wait a little longer. Not forever. Just until their potential trade partners can see the full draft board, until suitors desperate for upward mobility, armed with mid-first-round picks and players on rookie contracts, show their hands, work out who wants what, and how the framework for a blockbuster deal gets done.
Because once those picks become players, they lose some of their flexibility as trade assets. And Phoenix, if they’re thinking wisely, is waiting on the wind to shift in their favor.
The Leverage Illusion
Durant doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but he’s playing the part anyway. By signaling preferred destinations, he’s trying to guide the hand of Phoenix’s new-look front office. It’s not an uncommon strategy — stars have done this for decades — but it does complicate matters.
The Suns are under no legal obligation to send Durant to a city of his choosing. But they are tied to a different kind of contract: the unspoken one, the handshake agreement between player and franchise to preserve goodwill. Teams that break that tend to lose more than they leverage—they lose credibility.
So Phoenix walks the tightrope. They shop the star but try not to sully the brand.
The Draft Day Dance
Why wait until the draft?
Because by then, the offers become real. Pick protections lift. Rosters clear. Rookie-scale contracts come into view. Cap space tightens for others, but becomes more potent in Phoenix’s hands if the trade is structured properly. And let’s not forget: teams like Brooklyn, Houston, and even San Antonio all have the type of draft capital and youth that could reshape the Suns in a flash.
Waiting gives Phoenix optionality. It doesn’t guarantee a better return, but it might force more teams to the table. That matters.
The Risk of Waiting Too Long
Of course, there’s risk: if Durant gets injured. If suitors pivot. If the market dries up. And then there’s the vibe, the awkward tension of keeping a discontented superstar around longer than anyone wants.
The Suns can’t afford a repeat of last year’s injury-disrupted disappointment. The locker room needs clarity, not shadow games. And currently, talk of keeping him and pretending none of this trade chatter was even warranted could add more storm clouds overhead. For some gripping and well-presented thoughts on this aspect of keeping Durant, look no further than this article by our very own Kevin Humpherys.
Brian Windhorst says he wouldn’t rule out the Suns considering keeping Kevin Durant
“I would not rule out the Suns not being able to get a trade they like and having to make a decision—like, do we not trade him at all?”
( @ESPNCleveland )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 17, 2025
But in a league where desperation drives deals, waiting just a few more days might be what finally flushes out the perfect package.
What Phoenix Must Get Right
A Durant trade, if it happens, is a pivot point for the franchise. And unlike the rushed package that brought him here, the Mikal Bridges-sized hole in all our hearts still gaping, this one has to be about sustainability, balance, and winning depth.
Think: a starter-level forward, a capable center, a younger backcourt piece, a few picks. It doesn’t have to be flashy. It just has to be smart. It has to fit. And if that means waiting until the moment the draft clock starts ticking, so be it.
The Final Word: No Sudden Moves
The monsoon hasn’t broken yet. The winds are swirling. Durant is still here. And so is the hope that Phoenix can get this right—not just for the fans, or for Devin Booker, but for the identity of a franchise that’s been searching for its soul since the moment it traded for a megastar who may have never quite unpacked.
Sometimes, the best trades aren’t rushed. They’re waited on like rain in the desert.
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