Miami Heat Could Give Up A HAUL For Kevin Durant | Nekias Duncan Joins PHNX

Miami Heat Could Give Up A HAUL For Kevin Durant | Nekias Duncan Joins PHNX

is Ko wear untouchable because from the Sun’s perspective that’s the main piece that I’m looking forward in a return like he wouldn’t be untouchable to me newswise earlier today we find out that the team the list of teams that are considering maybe the heftiest teams considering KD has shrunken now to three teams and one of the teams that we’re looking at is going to be the Miami Heat and how they could potentially attain Kevin Durant what the roster might look like and does it all make sense for him to want to go there and for them to want to bring him in knowing what it might potentially cost so with that in mind we have the one and only Nikias Duncan um no stranger to Miami Heat basketball nor the Miami Heat basketball community in any capacity uh to come chop it up with us so Nikias we’ll go ahead and kick it to you first what were your initial thoughts about the heat firmly entrenched in the Kevin Durant sweep stakes and I guess what would it look like for you with KD on this team in respect to what it might cost him potentially um I think initial thought for me was not surprised just because of the trade deadline smoke that was surrounding Kevin Durant in Miami and apparently they they could have pushed chips to the table to do that they made an offer uh Phoenix apparently wanted more um so you know who you dep believe on that front can al can obviously alter your thinking on there but them exploring it in the offseason certainly makes sense like if for no other reason like KD’s been linked to the Heat before like we had the trade deadline thing when he was a free agent before ultimately joining Golden State like Miami wanted to get in the room with him um and so it makes sense that those two teams would talk and I think for a Heat team we’ll call it a challenging season this year in the interest of time and an unceremonious exit in the first round in which the Cleveland Cavaliers I think put up the highest offensive rating in a playoff series in NBA history uh it would appear that they would want a little bit more firepower as opposed to like blowing it up tearing it all down all that good stuff and so when you have a Kevin Durant that I it’s not going to cost you BAM it’s not going to cost you Tyler Herro though again we can sidebar offline with hero related items um it’s pretty easy for the Heat to put salaries together to get KD like if this is a trade that’s done like we’ve heard recent reporting from Shams that this could heat up ne you know within the next couple weeks some teams want to get it done before the draft um if this does get to like July 1st entering the new league gear like I think it’s about 55 mil for KD and from there like Andrew Wiggins Duncan Robinson and like various pieces that he could get to at that point could get you to the KD salary number and like they do have interesting young talent they do have Khalil Wear they do still have Nicole Yoic uh depending on how you feel about Jame Hawkins Jr if you feel like he’s more of the rookie year version of himself then that’s an intriguing piece if you feel like he’s more of the second year version of himself where he didn’t shoot well the post ups didn’t hit the same way he was playing through injury so like I think he deserves some grace there but if you’re closer to that end then that feels like more of a neutral asset than anything but like the Heat do have the literal salary to cobble this together relatively easily and they do have interesting front court pieces in particular or front court uh prospects in particular they can toss into this um they don’t have the high bevy of picks but you can get a first round pick very far out if you’re the Phoenix Suns um so like there is stuff there like I think there’s a reason they’re in the top three like there’s the natural linking between the two sides but the Heat can put together a deal relatively easily it really just comes down to like how much of the young SL young talent pool/pick equity they actually are willing to move for KD what would you be willing to move for Katie is Koware untouchable because from the Sun’s perspective that’s the main piece that I’m looking forward in a return like he wouldn’t be untouchable to me and like I think he did have a good rookie season and I obviously understand the intrigue of someone with that kind of athleticism that kind of limb someone that is willing to shoot threes on top of that and like bam out of bio through subtle hits and then not so subtle hints about hey playing the four and having a big alongside him um so like it would he wouldn’t be untouchable to me like I would probably be willing to do that uh with some hesitation because ultimately my br my bigger picture he thought is like even if you make this move like are you the best team in the east or are you a team that can win the east if things break right like it feels like they are more in the latter camp which isn’t nothing like this is two this is a heat team that have made two finals runs in recent years pretty much operating in that camp so like it’s obviously possible but like for me I don’t know if a KD trade swings enough to where they are just they’re in the upper echeline of the East and like I even feel like even that opens up a little bit more because of the Tatum injury like I think if Jason Tatum’s healthy like I just don’t think that puts them in Boston’s range i don’t think that puts them in Cleveland’s range and but because there’s so much smoke around maybe fe maybe Cleveland making a big move around their core or something like that like that opens the door for Miami um but yeah like I I just don’t know if this is enough for them to push into that upper echelon so I’d be a little bit hesitant from that point but if you are going for KD I don’t think Khalil Wear would be enough to prevent me from doing so like obviously keep him if you can but if that’s the swing piece and you do believe in the building that KD gets you to the promised land then yeah I probably give up Khalil Wear like you do just still have bam out of bio and ultimately you have done a good job throughout pretty much the Eric Bolster run in finding front court pieces off the off the scrap heap in particular we all remember Hassan Whiteside but like I mean Bam was late lottery I don’t know how many people had him late lottery and look at what he’s turned into um if you want to go back summer league like Willie Reid they they’ve been able to find back to the big three era Chris Anderson out of nowhere and he ends up being a crucial piece like finding front court pieces in particular for the Heat i don’t think it’s super difficult for them if they want to make go that route so going a little bit all over the place but I I don’t know if the KD trade is worth it but if you do think it’s worth it Khalil Wear is not going to stop me from doing it and that’s kind of what I was going to get to um the fact that even if you do trade even if you do trade Khloe Wear and swapping him with Kevin Durant it’s not hard to find a big man that can play next to KD and like you could do a whole lot you can do a whole lot worse in terms of finding a piece that fits next to something that you’re trying to build around when you got two guys with seven foot wings spans that can do pretty much anything on the defensive end of the floor and have the IQ to do it in tandem with someone else so I think they would be working with something even if they do have to include wear i think the Suns in their interest they shouldn’t let that deal happen without getting a starting caliber center in where obviously he’s still a project but he’s shown to be a starting caliber guy you can’t allow for that trade to take place without getting him in return yeah Nickas we appreciate you so much for taking some time and talking with us through your busy schedule of course you appeared on PHX Mercury for a full show earlier so make sure you check that out as well before we let you go from a non-Miami Heat perspective obviously you know Kevin Durant and his trade value has been a pretty big sticking point for a lot of people uh obviously you’re not going to get the type of value that you gave up for him to get him from Brooklyn where do you see Kevin Durant’s value as he enters his age 37 season this upcoming year it’s complicated really because like you mentioned the age but he’s still very clearly like a top 15 guy when he’s healthy and ultimately he might just be a top 15 guy of all time for that matter and like he’s an expiring but you kind of assume if you’re trading for him that you’re going to work out some kind of like two or three year extension on top of that like that kind of worries me as he enter like age 39 age 40 but this also isn’t a guy who’s relying on like traditional athleticism i guess I’ll frame it that way and so like I think he is still worth if not an A+ prospect like a B-level young prospect and like some combin I think three first two first in a swap two swaps in a good first like I think that’s probably where I go with KD if you’re baking in it’s KD for three years or three or four years like that’s probably where I go like I don’t think it is well I would like to say like the Luca type guy but we saw what that trade package was but even that gets you an allNBA guy Anthony Davis And that’s another pod for another time um but like you’re not getting like you’re not getting the A+ like if Jokic hit the market or if Wimby hit the market or something like you’re not getting everything you’re not getting five first three swaps your best two of your three best young prospects but like there’s a middle ground there like I think three first some combination of first and swaps but three is probably my number a B-level prospect like if it’s a C-level prospect then you’re just getting three first if it’s B-level then maybe it’s two first on the swap however high you go you kind of alter from there but that’s kind of the range I’m looking at with KD last one for me for you you can make this quick or as elaborative as you want if you’re the Suns would you air on having picks heavily pick involved to get in exchange for Durant would you air on getting more win now type of talents maybe younger win now type of guys or is you kind of look for the hybrid of both um I probably go for the hybrid and that’s mostly because you just can’t do anything with Bradley Bill like I think in an ideal world like one an ideal world I think Bill’s just already gone and like you’re probably not even having the Kevin Durant discussion to begin with but like if Bill was more movable than he is then I think you could afford to aim for like we could just go pure picks with a KD thing and then use Bradley Bill to get two roll guys and then that’s just kind of how you get to that hybrid kind of thing but absent of the Bill deal like I think trying to find a hybrid is probably your best bet like can we get a solid role can we get like a Royce O’Neal type of guy to kind of slide in like that caliber of role player not necessarily that position or whatever but just that quality of you can do solid things for us on both ends of the floor can unlock some line of versatility for us can you find those types and also get some pick equity like you already kind of got creative last year with turning a future first into like three lower level first and then making moves from there um so like obviously this is a front office that has shown we can get creative to try to get more picks in the building but if you can find a way to get just pure picks in the building considering how much of your draft is out of your control right now like you got to get something on that regard and that’ll be the second biggest decision that this front office is making stemming from bringing Jordan in there you go i mean a lot going on in the Suns off season we’re appreciated talk to Nikias Duncan about it nikkias do you want to just let everybody know where they can find you if they’re not familiar with your coverage for the NBA or the W sure thing uh Twitter Blue Sky etc at Nikki’s NBA um subscribe to the Dunkerpot podcast with the great Steve Jones Jr where we are first half of each pod is the NBA second half of each pod is the W and like as the NBA finals ends then that order is going to flip we’ll start with a W then get into whatever NBA news draft stuff yada yada yada um but if you want X’s and O’s if you want some good banter mixed in but this is a podcast about basketball uh at his period as Louisville that’s that’s where you want to be so subscribe to the Dunker Spot podcast yeah we talk a lot on the show Stephen about supporting the people who do it right you already know what I was about to get to you took it off the backboard when I was trying to throw it to myself yes very much so support the people that do the work that you desire to see more of in this space and naturally for me Nikias and Steve are definitely aligned there y’all go the alignment word directly align with that for me so we appreciate you making the time and we’ll definitely be talking again soon [Applause] [Music]

The Miami Heat have been linked as one of the strongest contenders to trade for Kevin Durant, PHNX Suns welcomes on Nekias Duncan to break down what Miami would or should give up in a trade for KD, what Durant’s value should look like across the league, and if a core of the 15-time All-Star, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo is worth risking for Miami.

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