There are nine NBA teams in the Western Conference above .500 entering play Friday and surprisingly, the Phoenix Suns aren’t among them.
Despite having one of the most loaded rosters in the game, paced by the Big Three of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the Suns are 17-19 and outside of the playoff picture in 12th place and 13 games behind the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder (30-6). Phoenix is still just three games in back of the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers (20-16) for the final non-Play-In Tournament postseason berth and one game in the win column behind the 10th-place San Antonio Spurs (18-19) and 11th-seeded Sacramento Kings (18-19).
Still, at least one NBA writer believes that the Suns should consider not only breaking up the loaded trio but shipping out the biggest one in Durant.
Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes revealed every team’s “toughest question” leading up to the Feb. 6 trade deadline on Friday and for Phoenix, he pondered “Is now the time to trade Kevin Durant?”
“The Phoenix Suns completely mortgaged their future in adding Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, the kind of shortsighted thinking only clear contention can justify. Slotted 12th in the West and showing no signs a leap is ahead, the Suns need to start thinking about the next iteration of the team. Trading Kevin Durant is the cleanest way to make the back half of the 2020s bearable,” Hughes wrote. “Ideally, Phoenix could get control of its own picks back from the Rockets, who took them on when Brooklyn swung a deal to reacquire its own firsts in 2025 and 2026. Even if that’s not on the table, the Suns need to consider rebuilding alternatives.”
Durant’s No Stranger to Being Traded
As Hughes noted, the 14-time All-Star hasn’t requested a trade yet, but “his track record suggests” one could be coming.
“If Phoenix notified the league that KD was available, it’d immediately have the hottest commodity on the market.”
After spending the first nine seasons of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder/Seattle SuperSonics, the future Hall-of-Famer signed with the Golden State Warriors in July 2016. Three years later, however, Durant was traded to the Brooklyn Nets to team up with Kyrie Irving.
After failing to advance past the conference semifinals with Irving and later James Harden in Brooklyn, KD demanded a move and was sent to the Suns in a monster four-team deal in February 2023. Durant, along with Booker and Chris Paul, fell to the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals that spring and after losing Paul to the Warriors and adding Beal, were swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs last year.
Suns’ Upcoming Stretch Could Determine KD’s Future in Phoenix
Phoenix started the 2024-25 campaign hot, using a seven-game winning streak to catapult them to a 9-2 start. The team then lost five in a row, six of seven and 16 of its next 22, before winning two of its last three.
Neither injuries nor offense have been a significant factor in the inconsistent first half. Durant and Beal have each missed 10 contests, but the former has suited up in 14 of the last 17 contests and Beal has only missed two tilts since the start of December. The starting backcourt of Booker and Tyus Jones, meanwhile, has sat out just six games combined.
Beal’s offensive struggles this winter, plus the squad’s standing as the 25th-ranked team in defensive rating (116.6) have been contributing factors to the mediocre first half. Beal went 21-for-59 (35.5%) from the field over a recent four-game stretch (all losses) and was moved to the bench. Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer, for what it’s worth, said his decision to have both Beal and veteran center Jusuf Nurkic come off the bench was to mix things up.
The Florida product has responded by going 26-for-44 (59.0%) in the last three games.
The Suns have 14 contests remaining before the trade deadline, including a five-game road trip, all against Eastern Conference foes. Among them will be a battle against the NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers (33-4), though the slate also features meetings with a pair of bottom-feeders in the league-worst Washington Wizards (6-29) and Brooklyn Nets (13-24).
If Hughes’ inklings are accurate, the upcoming games could play a big part in Durant’s future in the desert.
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NBA Writer: Suns Need to Consider Trading Superstar Kevin Durant