The Phoenix Suns Are Not Trading Kevin Durant To the Houston Rockets, Cut It Out

The Phoenix Suns Are Not Trading Kevin Durant To the Houston Rockets, Cut It Out

today on locked on Phoenix Suns the NBA offseason is off to an explosive start and for some very odd reason the Phoenix Suns ended up in the middle of it on Tuesday night as the Houston Rockets blatantly tried to steal away Kevin Durant what on Earth is going on here is there any reality to it at all I’ll let you know let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and we’re back this is locked on Phoenix Suns part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I am Brendan clean your host a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons and the host of the just basketball show thank you for making locked on Suns your first listen to kick off what allegedly was draft day we’ll have some draft thoughts at the end welcome in appreciate you making locked on Sons your first listen we’re free and available every day including this summer or this this weekend we’ll have multiple bonus episodes for you as well hit follow hit subscribe if you have not already make locked on suns your first listen every day and get locked on to the Suns every day we have a lot to get to of course and uh there’s a media angle there is a tampering angle there is a OG you know bubble Suns angle here there’s a lot to get to today’s episode brought to you by the FanDuel sports book make every moment more as playoffs wind down the sports aren’t quite what we want them to be but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right right there’s something for everybody every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started all right let me briefly try to recap here what exactly all has gone down on Tuesday night so everything kicked off around 7 o’clock Arizona time Tuesday night when the Brooklyn Nets traded for Mel Bridges now that’s your first Sons angle right Mel of course the key piece that went to Brooklyn in the Durant trade so so great at first you’re like okay cool m is moving teams hasn’t been a son in 2 years whatever interesting to see how that will go not our problem then a second deal comes into place which is basically a very a deal similar to kind of what the Nuggets did last year version of what the Suns did um after the be trade when they split their swap up similar to what Dallas did at the deadline uh to reacquire a pick from Oklahoma City in order to make the Daniel gaffer or the PJ Washington trade actually the heat even did this back in um 2020 when they wanted to try to get um galinari and Iguodala if you remember they got Iguodala they wanted galinari and Brooklyn basically got back it’s 2025 and 2026 picks ownership of those two because now they don’t have Bridges they’re going to be bad they want to have ownership over their own picks feels like they could be headed toward a blowup and they gave up further out picks to Houston now those further out picks are Suns picks 2027 2025 and then a swap in 2029 is what it sounds like so great Houston is trying to to get some um future assets that might have a little more value Brooklyn is rebuilding the Knicks are going all in fun little night in the NBA awesome few Suns ties whatever then WJ Adrien Orin now give SN out of nowhere tweets quote the implications of the of the Rockets Landing the Suns picks question mark Houston wants to trade for Kevin Durant and that becomes far easier if they can return the Suns pick that they gave up in the Durant deal to the Nets the Suns have said they’re keeping Durant for now but that could change next season but now Houston has the picks to make the Suns whole again then four minutes later another tweet from W quote as intrigued as the Rockets have been about to rant they’re determined to use the Suns picks to be aggressive on deals elsewhere Now sources tell ESPN Phoenix has made it clear that they want to run it back with this group and Houston is Seeking a major upgrade now then about a half hour after that out of basically nowhere another wge tweet quote the Rockets possess a pick swap with the Suns in 2025 the Suns pick in 2027 and could end up with the Suns pick in 2029 if the suns are ever faced with breaking up the team Houston’s also in Prime position to pursue a younger Devin Booker for now Phoenix is trying to win what the hell is going on here we had heard in a a mock draft I believe on Monday from Jonathan gavone or maybe even over the weekend or last week KD had been listed in a blurb about the Rockets who are known to be very aggressive right they went out you know all in to get Fred Van Ved and Dylan Brooks with their free agency money last year they wanted to get Brook Lopez didn’t get him now they get the number three pick which is actually again you know the ties between all these teams now that number three pick that Houston has when Wednesday night that they might take kinging with or whatever they do that’s Brooklyn’s pick so they have that they have salaries they have young players they want to get better again they want to take another step forward they have a win now coach they have pressure from ownership on and on and on that was the context in which Durant’s name was brought up by gavone in that mock draft it was in a list that included guys like Jimmy Butler Etc so thought nothing of it now W goes out of his way to basically home in on Durant as Houston’s Target and now I will be a little bit reserved with my thoughts on the media side of this and The Insider nature of all of it suffice to say at the bottom line this type of reporting that is done on Twitter that is done on social media that lacks context does not help anybody I don’t feel any closer to understanding what Houston wants to do nor whether it’s reasonable even if I take my son’s hat off my son’s lens off and I just look at it as an NBA fan throwing the Suns into all of this without concrete evidence that the two teams are discussing trades or anything feels just like recous Reckless speculation to me just the simple fact I mean we weren’t saying that Brooklyn was going to trade for Booker because they had the Suns picks before tonight they still have some of them you know Houston has or I’m sorry Washington has some of the Suns pick swaps out there into the future are the Wizards going to trade for Kevin Durant or Devon Booker no no they’re not nobody thinks that nobody really thinks that the Rockets are going to so you know of course when it comes to Durant it’s become a little bit of a game among media to play you know like the game on like menus at restaurants for kids or in coloring books where it would be like Ward Association it would be like blue and sky and then you draw a line and connect them for NBA insiders for NBA cont content creators it is basically Kevin Durant is all of just his name 10 times down one side of that and then on the other side it’s just every team in the NBA and you just draw lines and that’s how it is I get it he’s moved teams a few times now but this crosses a lot it makes no sense primarily because if the whole idea here from the Durant side let alone whatever the heck is like let me just say that the booker part actually first Devon Booker is not leaving the Suns or or let me let me say this Devon Booker is not leaving the Suns anytime soon W just tweet says as much ever face with breaking up the team at whatever time that might come well one of the sons picks that the Rockets just got is next year I don’t I mean why would the Suns trade Deon Booker within the next year they’re so far from that and if they were to trade him in two years or something then like everything will be different it just it’s so it’s so out there as for Durant it’s somewhat similar and I’ll talk more in the next segment about why it’s unreasonable but the Baseline is if the whole idea is that the let’s just get to this in the next segment there are timing reasons there are cap reasons and there are NBA cultural reasons why Durant is not going to Houston now that we’ve gotten Booker out of the way and we’ll go over those coming up next first Today’s Show brought to you by eBay Mot motor passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your rid or die alive eBay Motors knows that they have you covered everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance whether that’s a supercharger a roof rack an exhaust kit an LED headlight or whatever whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for with eBay’s guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply guar eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers okay little bit of a recap and the media gripes out of the way let’s just let’s just nip this in the butt even further Okay so as it relates to Kevin Durant there are two primary reasons why this is unrealistic and unreasonable and should not really even be out there as a news item okay the first one stemming from the timing of the picks that I was getting to in that last segment is this the idea as it is being posited and and and very you know I I don’t want to pretend as if W is making things up here it’s more the it’s more the lack of of detail the lack of critical thinking if we’re if anyone would believe this you you don’t have critical thinking skills okay the idea would be that now Houston has the Suns picks the reason that that matters is because it it in theory now that the Suns would have their own picks back very similar to what Brooklyn just did it allows you to shed talent and sort of consider a rebuild because now you at least have ownership over your own pick so if you are so bad as the Nets are about to be they already kind of were well now you get to make your own selection in in relationship to how bad you were you get to keep your own pick trading Kevin Durant in and of itself just him which is not something we’ve ever heard the suns are considering this whole summer would not make the Suns bad enough to care about having their picks especially if we’re being just like playing that out and at least just like giving a little bit of time to that line of thinking just long enough to explain why it’s ridiculous the Suns 2029 is one of the picks that that that Houston just acquired here at least a a part of it because it’s been swapped a few times Kevin Durant in 2029 will be um over 40 years old I don’t know what team he’ll be on it that goes out further than his current contract does and not many players in the history of the NBA have played into their early 40s explain to me why that matters for this situation okay so that’s that’s the main thing why that does not make any sense let’s also talk though just to address it and I will I promise I will close with draft talk I I was prepping a whole episode around the draft and then these tweets started hitting and I got mad and wanted to do of course I’m going to do the episode on this but the Rockets don’t have they don’t have the deal all right they don’t they don’t have a a package that makes sense for this all the pick because again just trading Durant still leaves the Suns with I’m not trying to make it out as if losing Durant would not be catastrophic for the Suns but we’re having two separate conversations just trading Durant does not make the Suns bad enough to fully be that that that would not signal them fully going into a rebuild they would have to make multiple moves beyond that they have uh Bradley Beal on their team they have a Devon Booker on their team those are major pieces you would have to move before you would ever get to the point where you’re talking about a lottery pick Devin Booker Bradley Beal whatever you get back for Durant Yousef nurkic Grayson Allen Royce O’Neal that team is not winning a championship but that team’s not getting the first overall pick here so some sort of package based around picks doesn’t even make sense for Durant now forgetting if they’re the son’s picks or anybody else’s picks getting rid of KD the goal as far as I can understand it now would be to get pieces back who could help you continue to win and it would only happen if Durant wanted it to happen that’s the I mean I should have said this all sooner I mentioned there’s no indication that the Suns want to trade dur rant that’s first and foremost but why would he want to go to the Rockets the Rockets who didn’t make the play in last year who are very young have no no current or former allst stars on their team that that’s not a winning situation he has no ties to that organization the one case that I’m sure Rockets fans would cling to if they’re trying to you know will this into existence would be the relationship with Oka who of course was an assist assistant coach on the Brooklyn Net staff during KD’s time there and I’m not trying to minimize that that probably would help but knowing the coach doesn’t mean you’re gonna I mean that that that doesn’t mean anything okay Kyrie Irving plays for the Mavs we know KD and Kyrie are close is he going to ask for a trade to the Mavs would we take that seriously probably not so why would we take this seriously right okay so there’s that that’s the cultural reason that I was referencing teams don’t trade their Superstar legendary players to places that they don’t want to be and teams that haven’t gotten a sign off from a superstar Legendary player don’t just trade for them and cross their fingers so unless there is a lot of context here and something is going on with Durant and the Suns or Durant has signal to Houston that he would like to be there there’s there’s no fire there’s barely any smoke there’s no fire so there we go and again if any of that’s true that’s context that the person breaking the story I.E wge should be telling us and until he does it it all feels very much like speculation and it all feels very irresponsible but let me get back to the point of what the trade could look like the Rockets again the main appeal of a deal would be picks they now have all these Suns picks they have um some of they still have some of the Nets picks I believe I’m sure they have some other ones out there their own in the future and things like that yeah let me see here they have a 2026 Houston uh OKC pick and all of their own picks and uh a couple Nets picks left over so there you go that would be the main appeal but again as far as we know until the suns are really blowing this entire thing up which is very far from where we are right now given mat ishbia sounded like a lunatic talking about how much he still wanted to win and everybody wants their situation and they’re still happy that doesn’t sound like a guy who’s going to trade all of his three stars out of nowhere so the Suns if they ever were to consider trading k and anything about this situation moved closer to that direction the Rockets would be in a situation to match Kevin Durant salary which is $51.1 million this upcoming season they don’t want to trade van Ved he’s one of their veteran players maybe they do okay if they wanted to trade van vet then I I would take a lot of what I’m saying back you could do van vet and and jock landale or van Ved and Jan Tate and you’re getting there as far as just the salary pieces are concerned concerned if you’re not trading van vet you’re talking about Dylan Brooks I mean okay not you know I guess you don’t say no to that um you’re not they’re not trading shenon so is it Dylan Brooks Jabari Smith and a bunch of picks I mean okay that’s sure but those are that that offer that package is only something you could talk yourself into if Durant signaled he was only going to go to the Houston Rockets but as a reminder where we are right now is that Kevin Duran has not even appeared to communicate with the Suns that he is unhappy in any way shape or form that he wants out at all and there’s nothing telling us he would ever want to go to Houston and yet there is now an entire new cycle based around the idea so either somebody along the way right now it’s WJ he’s the only one putting this out there is either being incredibly Reckless or knows something and isn’t saying it that’s the only possible truth here other than outside of that most of the other angles around this do not make a lot of sense and therefore should not really be part of the news part of how the Rockets are being reported on part of how the draft is being looked at at number three the Rockets Wildest Dreams or whatever is written on their whiteboard somewhere deep inside the training facility that’s not national news that’s not important it’s just a figment of their imagination right now and somehow the biggest Insider in the sport went public with it 2024 I suppose I don’t really know all right let’s close out with uh some draft talk last minute homework on the draft a prospect that appears to be very much in play for the Phoenix Suns who have not talked about at all with much much at all I talked a little bit about was Zach Cohen on Tuesday’s episode is Ryan Dunn of Virginia I watched some clips of of Dunn I watched other people’s scouting reports and breakdowns of done I read some background about dun and I have some thoughts on what could very likely be one of the Suns draft picks I’ll also give you my final sort of predictions about where the Suns will even be picking and kind of what might happen here on draft night coming up next first Today’s Show brought to you by the FanDuel sports book we love sports so much of course as die hards like I’m sure you and I both are but during the summer time it gets a little quiet FanDuel though wants to help keep the sports going whenever you want all you got to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime you’re in the mood and this summer FanDuel is going even further they’re hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to handle.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer I told you before I have been watch I’ve been filling that Sports void with soccer the US is playing in Copa America on Thursday they’re favored by a lot but anytime goal score psic um balagon maybe you like Pepe you’re getting like plus 200 odds or better on all those guys because soccer is kind of crazy guys might not score but for that team the same guys tend to score it’s worth a look Vandal official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball all right let’s close out the show put the Durant Houston craziness behind us here talk a little bit about the draft which is the the main thing going on on Wednesday and uh between some local reporters some national Buzz Ryan Dunn and and what we know the sons have worked out Ryan Dunn he appears to be a very a very real candidate for the Phoenix Suns at pick 22 or even if they trade back of course the ringer has him at at 25 on their board and let me see where he is on ESPN’s board 28 and even a lot of sort of the you know people that I follow on Twitter who analyze the draft and maybe have a little bit more of a freewheeling mentality to just kind of let their let let their takes fly with the draft tend to have done at least as a first round candidate a first round Prospect right NFL people would say a day one guy right in this case the Suns the NBA now has that day one day two so most people have done as a day one guy so if everybody likes him I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’ve found some magic thing and now I hate him he is widely considered to be not only the best defensive overall Prospect in this draft but overall um ever in in the in the NBA draft one of the best defensive prospects ever to come through he is 21 already after two years at in college so even a little bit old for a sophomore turning 22 during next season so he would would have been 23 as a senior you know and 66 with the 72 wingspan that’s that’s big and 214 is what He’s listed at I guess that’s what he measured at at the combine he was listed at 208 um in college I feel I don’t know he he’s a big he’s a big 68208 let’s just say that um he can space incredibly you know there were plays if you were if you watch some of the the turnover creation or even just contest moments that he had you’re talking about a guy who could guard something on the perimeter if he was defending a you know the screener or the ball handler and then rotate over to in the same play protect the rim or fly over to fill a passing lane or dig in on a drive and get a hand in some somebody’s cookie jar and poke it loose and disrupt that that ball handler away from whatever his actual responsibility is in the play just just the instincts the athleticism the physicality the force the length the epitome of what you would want in in a defensive player in any era but you know particularly in an era like this where the floor is really really spaced and the ball is whipping around and the offense defense is just really sophisticated and and and smart that’s the pluses the the minuses are almost everything about his offensive game so far now I would say he you know he seems to have good instincts on the offensive end you know I always say like there’s there’s something to be said about guys who have been off ball players who can’t shoot their whole lives it’s not ex like you and I might be watching and thinking about Ryan for the first time Ryan Dunn lives Ryan Dunn so of course this might sound I don’t know convoluted what I’m trying to say here but like guys know their strengths and weaknesses and he operates like a player who does not try to do too much he kind of tends to keep the ball moving he he’s he’s at least not going to be a mess if he becomes involved in an offensive set he has the size where you know he finished at a really high level in college and you know he’s not going to be taken advantage of by by defenses as long as he doesn’t shoot himself in the foot but probably the most worrying thing I mean won the three-point shot just just to reiterate he only took 51 in 1300 minutes at Virginia so that should speak to if he’s just not even comfortable with it then that’s pretty ugly the free throw shooting is 53% across two years that’s ugly you know he he he has this weird thing where he made a decent amount of his two-point jump shots and there’s these weird moments where you’ll see him like kind of hit these bunnies or floaters or little you know short jumpers and you’re like Well he seems to have touch but if he’s not trusting his own shot I why would why would I why would anyone and Sam Vini of the athletic noted in his scouting report that dun has this odd thing where you know had this odd thing I should say where this past season down the stretch of the year like he just stopped shooting and and obviously the numbers kind of backed that up he took you know during the beginning of the year he had an 11 field goal attempt game 14 he had a couple back toback in January where he took 10 shots and then from the end of January on he had a game where he took one shot in 27 minutes a game where he took zero in 20 minutes two in 22 minutes 2 in 24 4 minutes and only cracked double digits in field goal attempts one time which was March 15th from January 31st on which was like 12 13 games that’s scary all in all it’s funny Dunn feels like maybe not quite the offensive feel as kind of a screener and and a ball mover as as the player I’m about to say but in a lot of other ways including the fact that he’s left-handed and like a a big Wing he’s kind of tamman Kamar he’s like a better defensive worse offensive tamman Kamar and it’s funny I mean it’s not funny it makes obvious sense that he that the Suns would like him right after they picked Kamar but funny from the standpoint of we weren’t sure kamaro would break into the rotation that was the second round deep second round player you know I I guess like Dunn Dunn is significantly better on the defense end enough to to earn that higher evaluation but it is also a worse draft I bring all that up just to say that I would feel fairly similarly about dun in terms of his ability to step into a rotation right away as I did about Kamar which is that if he can’t make a three if he can’t make jumpers then I’m waiting to see what he can do on offense in order to stay on the court and that’s a especially true early on in his career Sam Vini of the athletic who I mentioned a minute ago compared done to a fellow former son drick Jones Jr who bounced around quite a bit in the NBA had some success in Miami and in different spots but then eventually you know really broke out this year with Dallas where he made enough threes and fit into a system where the team was playing fast and he became a good lob threat and a cutter and you know at least can not be a mess with the ball in his hands and feels like he may get paid and and finally catch on with the team in the MAV that that you know if it’s Derk Jones Jr career trajectory Don is not somebody that’s going to contribute for the Suns right away now I’ve been talking about that a lot with guests who have come on Brandon dwas on Monday Zack Cohen on Tuesday and just ask them like do you think that this pick needs to be somebody that can at least be a part of a rotation even if it’s deep and even if they don’t play in the playoff maybe should that be a priority for the Suns this year and people can have different opinions on that I tend to think that it should be somebody that you think could at least play a little bit I don’t think dun can I just don’t you know I think the offense is going to be too much of a of a of a problem early on that you’re not going to be able to trust him in a you know winning environment as a rookie despite his age so to finish all of this crazy episode off I think the are going to look long and hard at trading back those deals are hard to find you usually get about one of them per draft maybe two a lot of teams want to trade back this year because it’s an eye to eye of the beholder role player older player draft and SO trading back is what you do in that type of a situation the suns are going to be one of many teams trying to do that and dun still makes more sense to me later in the first round or even early in the second based on where team where analysts have him on their big boards and where he’s getting mocked in terms of how teams value him I still come back to that Eve Mei feels like the only player that we know the Suns could be interested in who fits what they need who actually feels like good value at 22 whether it’s Tyler KCK or it’s Ryan Dunn or it’s a number of other players bronny James of course it doesn’t feel like those guys are number 22 players that doesn’t mean they won’t get picked at 22 anyway if the Suns can’t make a trade and they want to just take the player they like the best I would get it can’t always be perfect but I don’t have a great gauge of what’s going to happen because of all that so the suns are for sure going home on Wednesday night with a with a drafted player I continue to believe that maybe more than one but who it is and where it is I truly don’t know that’s fun though enjoy it I’ll be back after the draft with stepen pjon Garner to recap all the shenanigans in Suns land and anything that affects Suns land so hit follow or subscribe if you haven’t already get that episode in your feed Wednesday night we’ll have a second round recap Thursday night an extra episode leading into free agency then I’ll be with Brandon on Sunday night when free agency actually gets started so tons of lock on suns content headed your way hit that button so you don’t miss it enjoy the draft I’ll catch you guys tomorrow

Somehow Kevin Durant (and Devin Booker?!) were linked to the Houston Rockets after Houston acquired the Phoenix Suns future first-round picks.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down a crazy night of NBA transactions and why KD to Houston does not make sense. Then, a look at Virginia forward Ryan Dunn and whether he makes sense for the Suns in the NBA Draft.

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