Bickley Blast: Despite reports, Phoenix Suns look to build around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker

Bickley Blast: Despite reports, Phoenix Suns look to build around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker

and Mara boings Arizona Sports the local sports leader bigley blast day one of the NBA draft is over and the Suns did not trade Kevin Durant they did not draft bronny James but fear not there is still time to do both seriously though let’s talk about Durant the Suns owner says all the reports are false and that we all love him here in Phoenix yet the leading personality at ESPN says he still doesn’t believe ishia and insists they cannot wait to trade him all I can say for certain is that Smith is wrong about one thing the Suns can and will wait to trade Kevin Durant but let’s not make this a referendum about a loudmouth broadcaster let’s be real here I believe the Suns know they need to build a real and a new culture they know they need Devin Booker to become a real leader and I think they wonder if Kevin Durant is an impediment to both now don’t get me wrong they all know we all know KD is a Hall of Fame player who brings a ton to the basketball court but is he the best influence for Booker is he the best teammate or is he a culture killer words that have been uttered in private inside footprint center it’s a fair question when you hear that KD may have frozen out Frank Vogal at some point last season and it’s fair to wonder when Devin Booker regrettably uttered k ads Mantra after a playoff loss hey I’m just chilling so I believe the truth is out there somewhere and I believe the Suns will give their new head coach a few months to make next year’s team take flight to make Durant a happier more engaged teammate and if it isn’t happening by mid January then all bets are off that’s when Kevin sent might be a reality and not just another erroneous report all right today’s bigle blast brought to you by my great friends at Chapman BMW who make luxury attainable find them online at Chapman bmw.com KD it’s all love it’s all it’s all good um like having a chance to work with one of the all-time greatest players um and and the success that we’ll have going forward um it’s what you what you live for it’s what you Embrace and what you want so like I said really excited about the team that we’re building um Upstairs Downstairs and everywhere in between and just looking forward to the season James Jones the uh head of basketball operations for the Suns on draft night last night uh addressing the relationship he believes the Suns have with Kevin Durant and going both ways it’s all love you said earlier in the show you mentioned uh I did get and you mention Stephen A Smith as ESPN’s leading personality I was like wait Pat McAfee said this WOW uh but um Stephen I Smith made the comment yesterday the Suns want off of Kevin Durant right now he made no bones about it that led to the James Jones response last night on D draft day even before that Matt ishbia went to Twitter and said KD loves Phoenix Phoenix loves KD we’re competing for a championship and I’m I’m paraphrasing that you also called it incumbent on Stephen A Smith to address this today because he was the guy the one guy the one man army that was putting this out there yesterday it’s been refuted and shot down by countless people locally and nationally Stephen A Smith did just that today uh started in I assume I didn’t hear this so I might be out of order but uh we’ll start with this one the ishbia one was the the Matt ishbia uh the response to what Matt ishbia put out there on X yesterday all right Stephen A are you buying isia’s comments about KD hell no hell no of course not first of all let’s understand something from what I’m being told uh uh Kevin Durant ain’t too keen on staying in Phoenix he ain’t demanding no trades or anything but he wouldn’t mind being up out of there that’s number one number two don’t tell me Matt iser is all sold on this app you just got bounced out via a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the dag on playoffs you think about the assets that you could potentially get for a superstar the likes of Kevin Durant you can’t tell me that’s something that Matt ESP is not going to entertain just because he’s committed to him being in Phoenix it all depends on the assets that you can get I know they don’t want to let go of Devin Booker I know Devin Booker doesn’t want to leave Phoenix if he were to leave Phoenix he wouldn’t mind being a Nick but he doesn’t want to leave Phoenix he’s the face of that franchise and we homegrown he we get all of that but in the end what it comes down to is this Kevin Durant even at the age of 35 is still a superstar in this game but he’s not there for the Long Haul and unless unless you talk about winning the title in the immediate future which I don’t think the Phoenix shs should be thinking about when you just got swept even though Mike buen hose is your new coach I think the bottom line is you got to entertain all options I’m not saying he’s gonna trade Kevin Durant but if the opportunity presents itself you’re damn righty will a little softer not a little bit a little more speculation all I also disagree with and he shifted The Narrative it wasn’t that Sons want off of him right now he made it very very clear yesterday that the Suns had an issue with Kevin Durant making it seem like a trade what he said his tone and his words made it seem like a trade was possible yesterday yes yes exactly but but more to the point it wasn’t that we can trade him because we don’t have enough we can trade him because he can still bring us back a lot in return it was we need to trade him cuz he’s a problem that’s the way it was presented and that was in that’s very much consistent with what he said about KD 6 weeks ago MH when he said some things about KD that I do believe carried The Ring Of Truth and and and so so he’s got to Source someplace so there’s a disconnect there’s some lying going on from someplace yeah but then you consider I mean all the options a source from someplace I just I I totally agree with that that that that is definitely the case is it a source with an axe to grind again all of those things and this is where I as as a leading personality at ESPN a guy who’s angling to make 25 mil per year you got to have higher standards than that if you are reporting this then then you’re reporting this and you can’t back off of it and laugh it off or whatever okay because Matt ishbia basically came out and said dude you’re lying yeah well again the part the the soundbite that we just played from Stephen A the part that I disagree with the most is at the very end the sun shouldn’t be thinking about a championship yes they should you can’t be dissuaded by one four game sweep again right the Dallas Mavericks didn’t even have the luxury of being swept in last year’s playoffs because they didn’t make it and they played for a championship this year right but let but let’s let’s deal with a couple things here real honestly when you when you talk about what happened last year and if Frank vogle had constant conversations with Matt ishia to the point where Frank vogle believed he was safe that his job was safe then Frank vogle told Matt ishia the issues he had getting to Kevin Durant getting Kevin Durant to buy in all of that stuff so if you’re trying to build a culture you’re going to wonder about this stuff so I do believe the sons are wrestling with this question now Devin or Stephen A just said something I had heard before that that that Kevin Durant still isn’t too keen on Phoenix that he wouldn’t be mind to get up and out of here okay but it just feels like he’s throwing in stuff now he’s just saying stuff off the cuff almost B again he got he got Derek Deon Booker Nick comment in there too yeah he got lot of people refuting him yesterday so it makes sense thanks for watching Bley and marada click to see the latest Bley blast and hit the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports

After ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith started trade rumors about Kevin Durant ahead of the NBA Draft, Dan Bickley breaks down how the Phoenix Suns’ plan to build a team and culture around the superstar forward and Devin Booker.

Video: Felisa Cárdenas and Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports
Photos: Sarah Stier, Tim Heitman/Getty Images

Arizona Sports has the permission and the rights to shoot video from the NBA and the Phoenix Suns.

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