Kevin Durant Trade Idea Sends Suns Star to Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns could collaborate on a Kevin Durant trade.

Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant shoots against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the third quarter at Target Center. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

The Phoenix Suns will be fielding trade offers this summer for Kevin Durant, and they need to look far and wide at the possibilities.

One team that could look to trade for Durant is the Dallas Mavericks, who are beginning to feel a little heat after the Luka Doncic deal in February.

Bleacher Report writer Zach Buckley suggests that the Suns could trade Durant to the Mavs for Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Jaden Hardy and two first-round picks.

"They narrowed their championship window by swapping out Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis, so they must be hyper-focused on the present," Buckley wrote of the Mavericks.

"And while there are all kinds of red-flag worries (and dim long-term hopes) for a Durant-Davis-Kyrie Irving trio, few teams—if any—are matching that talent. It might only take them one healthy playoff run to justify the cost of this swap and even the Dončić deal."

The Mavs are clinging onto straws to stay relevant in the West, and so are the Suns, but this gives them an opportunity to get some of their future back.

"A Durant deal feels inevitable, but if Phoenix is keeping Devin Booker around, it won't want to tear everything down to the studs," Buckley writes.

"The Suns will want competitive pieces, plus the assets to either add more or keep stored away for the future. Thompson would be an easy fit as a low-maintenance shooter, Washington could help replace some of Durant's defensive versatility, and Phoenix would hope to strike it rich with the first-round picks (and, to a much lesser extent, Hardy). The Suns would also need to take on more salary to make this work, so the actual return would be a touch larger than it appears here."

The Suns would be able to build around Booker with a starting lineup with him, Hardy, Thompson, Washington and Nick Richards, and that could make Phoenix a better team going into next season.