{"id":133689,"date":"2025-04-11T07:08:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=133689"},"modified":"2025-04-11T07:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:08:33","slug":"phoenix-suns-kevin-durant-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/11\/phoenix-suns-kevin-durant-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns Need to Copy Clippers Blueprint in a Kevin Durant Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns are officially eliminated from playoff contention with two games left to play in the season. They are a unique team in the league. The Suns are the only team in the league that is not in the playoffs, play-in, or in the lottery. Despite missing the playoffs, they do not own a lottery pick because of previous deals. After a disastrous season, it is almost guaranteed that the Suns will trade Kevin Durant<\/a> this summer. The only way for the team to move forward seems to be a blueprint set by another Western Conference team.<\/p>\n

Suns Need to Copy Clippers Blueprint in a Kevin Durant Trade<\/h2>\n

Last summer, the Los Angeles Clippers were faced with a tough decision. They could either re-sign Paul George<\/a> or let him walk for nothing. They chose the latter, and as a result, they were able to sign a couple more players. The void left by George was filled by other players on the roster, namely Norman Powell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The biggest thing the Clippers were able to do though was get out of the second apron. This year, they have $174 million<\/a> tied in salary. If they re-signed Paul George, they would surely be above the second apron.<\/p>\n

It is the exact same blueprint that the Suns should use in a potential Kevin Durant trade deal. While KD has one more year left on his contract, the Suns should look for financial flexibility primarily in any potential deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which Team Can Help the Suns?<\/h3>\n

The usual suspects for Durant will line up this summer again. There will be plenty of teams that think they need one more piece like KD to compete for a championship. Phoenix has proven they do not have a championship-contending team right now. What they can do is pivot<\/a> by building around Devin Booker<\/a>, the same way the Clippers pivoted away from George. Booker is 28 years old, and he should have at least five more years of quality basketball.<\/p>\n

Because the Suns are in the second apron, they cannot receive more money than they send. So, they have to find a partner that can send the same salary that Durant makes, which is $51 million.<\/p>\n

Out of the teams mentioned as potential suitors, the Rockets, can offer the most flexibility, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat. They all have a salary that expires after next season, which should be the Suns\u2019 number one priority.<\/p>\n

Who Has More Money to Spend, Ballmer or Ishbia?<\/h3>\n

If Mat Ishbia<\/a> wants to be serious about owning a team in the NBA and being successful, he has to take a look at Steve Ballmer<\/a>. For years, the Clippers owner was relentless in spending money and trying to pay to get the biggest names. But when Ballmer, who has a net worth of over $100 billion, says that the team has to be careful how it spends, people should take notice.<\/p>\n

For comparison, the Suns owner has a net worth of close to $10 billion. Ballmer is 10 times richer, and yet, last summer, he decided to put an end to the reckless spending.<\/p>\n

In an ESPN story, Ballmer admitted<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, with Paul not coming back, we were able to upgrade our team. We don’t [sign] Derrick Jones Jr<\/a>. if Paul comes back. We don’t [sign] Kris Dunn<\/a>, [or have] our new defensive identity. Might not have [signed] Kevin Porter Jr<\/a>., Nico<\/a> [Batum]. … You could say, well, they’re not Paul George. No, they’re not Paul George.”<\/p>\n

While those players didn\u2019t replace George\u2019s production, the Clippers were able to get multiple hard-nosed defensive players who helped mold the new identity of the team. The Suns can do the same with a couple of new faces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The reality is that being in the second apron for multiple years is detrimental to an organization. Teams do not have cap space to use, they cannot use the midlevel exception, and their picks get frozen. For the Suns, any potential Kevin Durant trade should involve future or instant cap flexibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns are officially eliminated from playoff contention with two games left to play in the season. They are a unique team in the league. The Suns are the only team in the league that is not in the playoffs, play-in, or in the lottery. Despite missing the playoffs, they do not own a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":133700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,27,62,28],"tags":[352,69,50],"class_list":["post-133689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-clippers","category-nba","category-suns","tag-devin-booker","tag-kevin-durant","tag-paul-george"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133689"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133699,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133689\/revisions\/133699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}