The NBA is in chaos, and the trade deadline is tomorrow, so anything can happen. The Luka Doncic trade still confuses me. Seeing him make halfcourt shots in the Lakers’ practice gym and shoot next to LeBron James and Austin Reaves is beyond strange. It doesn’t seem real. If this is the end, maybe it’s a sign from above.
Doncic isn’t the only big-name player traded, though. The Spurs jumped at the chance to get De’Aaron Fox, and this led to Chicago sending Zach LaVine to Sacramento. LaVine will team up with DeMar DeRozan again after three months apart, but this time he’ll be on a solid team.
The Phoenix Suns are now interested in trading Kevin Durant, which could make this one of the most exciting trade deadlines ever. Phoenix really wants to add Jimmy Butler, but they can’t get rid of Bradley Beal’s contract, so trading Durant is probably the only way to get Butler. Durant is the better player, right?
There’s a complex argument for Butler filling a specific need for Phoenix’s offense — adding more rim pressure and creating more in the halfcourt — but we’re talking about Kevin Durant here. What are we even doing? Durant is 36 and has shown signs of slowing down, but so has 34-year-old Butler. Durant is still a 7-foot-tall scoring machine, an excellent defender, and has a shot no one can block.
The rumors about a Durant-Butler trade are real, and if the Suns really do consider sending Durant to the Miami Heat in exchange for Butler, they’ll need a trade package that makes sense. That’s what we’re looking at today.
The tricky part for Phoenix is that they’re hard-capped at the second tax apron, meaning they can’t combine salaries in a trade. The Suns’ front office needs to match Durant’s $51.2 million salary exactly, without going too far over it.
Butler makes $48.8 million, so getting Butler along with some useful role players just isn’t possible unless the Suns can make a separate trade to create salary room, which seems unlikely.
Here’s what Miami can offer for Durant right now:
- Jimmy Butler
- Nikola Jovic
- A 2029 first-round pick
- A 2031 first-round pick
Is that enough for a 36-year-old Durant in the second-to-last year of his contract? The Suns are currently ninth in the West, with a record barely above .500. If their reasoning for the trade is “why not?” it’s hard to blame them.
Butler would change the offense, and Nikola Jovic is a solid long-term player with immediate value. If the Suns can get several first-round picks from Miami — especially from years far down the line — it might be worth considering. Butler is open to signing a new deal in Phoenix, and if it doesn’t work out, the Suns would at least have more future assets to work with.
This trade seems unlikely, but the Heat want Durant, and the Suns are eager to shake things up. Sometimes tough situations lead to surprising moves. A Durant-Butler swap could actually happen.
