Suns KEEPING Kevin Durant? LATEST ON TRADE TALKS | Miami HEAT Podcast

Suns KEEPING Kevin Durant? LATEST ON TRADE TALKS | Miami HEAT Podcast

what’s up wes Goldberg here from Locked on Heat this is one more thing little bonus episode for you today if you didn’t check out our mailbag episode go ahead and find that in your YouTube feed your podcast feed make sure you are subscribed to both on YouTube wherever you get your podcast so we really do appreciate we answered questions about Trey Young Russell Westbrook Drew Holiday a bunch of really interesting questions within the mailbag but we got another question pertaining to Kevin Durant and whether or not he is going to pull his own version of what Jimmy Butler pulled in order to get out of Phoenix obviously Jimmy Butler made things ugly to get thing to get out of Miami before the trade deadline but let’s back up here for a second before we get into all of that um the latest on Kevin Durant uh Brian Winhor of ESPN reporting earlier that um the Suns are not getting what they want the the offers on the table are not up to the value that the Suns are looking for in order to trade Kevin Durant winhor went so far as to say that the Suns are entertaining the idea of keeping Kevin Durant after all of this um look I don’t think that that’s going to happen um the the toothpaste is out of the tube on Kevin Durant and Phoenix they tried shopping him in February before the trade deadline he was reportedly bothered by all of that and they’ve made it very clear that they’re going to trade him this summer kevin Durant’s getting traded we just don’t know where we still don’t know where Kevin Durant is going to get traded we know that on his list of preferred destinations it’s San Antonio Houston and Miami and based on some of the reporting around it San Antonio has backed off on Kevin Durant they are clearly of the mindset of we’ll take Kevin Durant if you’re giving him away but we’re not going to give up any of our great stuff for him houston sounds like they’re in a similar camp and Miami sounds like they’re not going to be giving up their best stuff so we talked a lot on this show me my co-host David Rill a lot about hey would you should the Heat will the Heat include Kell Wear in a Kevin Durant deal it doesn’t look like they are going to cross that line at least not at this stage so where does that leave everybody the Minnesota Timberwolves are one of those other teams reportedly very interested in acquiring Kevin Durant but Kevin Durant has indicated that he doesn’t want to sign there long term and they’re not going to make that trade unless they can get some sort of um you know weakwink agreement that hey Durant would sign longterm you’re not going to give up whatever it is that they end up giving up for nothing for just a year of Kevin Durant because that’s not something that they’re interested in doing um other teams Toronto the Clippers like you hear all these other teams sort of pop up it just doesn’t seem like there’s any traction on a deal and that’s because the Sun’s asking price is way too high right now way too high i don’t know what they’re asking for there was a report a week ago that they’re looking for basically a package comparable to what they sent out for Kevin Durant which was multiple first round picks Muel Bridges Cam Johnson just a crazy amount of stuff they’re not going to get that and I don’t know when they’re going to come to that realization but they’re not going to get that for Kevin Durant so if they decide if we don’t get that for Kevin Durant we’re going to keep Kevin Durant well good luck then you’re just dealing with a very unhappy Kevin Durant and a very bad roster that can’t be unchanged and a very expensive roster that can’t be unchanged because you’re up in the second apron and you have no flexibility and that’s where when I hear something like “Oh they could just not trade Kevin Durant.” Okay does that mean they’re trading Devin Booker because it’s one thing to just say “Hey we’re not getting what we want for Kevin Durant we’re not going to trade him.” It’s another thing to do that and then also be okay with uh one of the most expensive payrolls in the league for a team that missed the playoffs last year and has absolutely zero shot in the Western Conference this whole thing has been a failure for the Phoenix Suns they know it it’s why Kevin Durant is available they were trying to shop Bradley Beiel but they he has a no trade clause so they can’t move him so if you’re not trading Durant then I don’t know how you get out of the Second Apron unless you want to trade Bradley Beal or rather Devin Booker who’s the face of your franchise the guy that you’re obsessively trying to build around and if you trade him you might as well just blow the whole thing up and trade Kevin Durant anyway so when I hear things that like the Suns might hold on to Kevin Durant what that says to me is no they’re not going to hold on to Kevin Durant they’re just trying to drum up offers at this point that’s all they’re trying to do so that takes me to this question uh from the Lockdown Heat Insider community you could show you could sign up with the link in the show notes for uh access to ask us questions and all these other things andrew writes in “If what Winhorse report on the Suns not getting what they want for KD do you see KD pulling a Jimmy Butler and making it ugly after they tra after they tried to shop him or does he just behave and stick it out until he becomes a free agent?” I’m going to answer that but first let me tell you about game time there’s nothing like the NBA playoffs the intensity the buzzer beaters the fans losing their minds it’s the kind of atmosphere you have to experience live and this year’s matchups are already delivering if you want in game time makes it fast and easy to get seats even for the biggest playoff games prices on the app actually drop closer to tip off and with lastminute deals panoramic seat views and no surprise fees game time is a total game changer i was just on the app and zone deals were offering 10% off exclusive zone deals for FIFA Club World Cup matchups i love that I could see my exact view before I buy no surprises the app makes it ridiculously simple two taps and I’m done and with the Game Time guarantee you know you’re getting the best deal if you find a better price in the same row and section they’ll credit you 110% of the difference so take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the Game Time app create an account use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the code LED dBA for $20 off download Game Time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right back to the question here would Jimmy Butler or would Kevin Durant pull a Jimmy Butler would he make things so ugly and so difficult for Phoenix that they are forced to trade him would he be willing to just sit it out until he becomes a free agent in 2026 my guess is no uh that has never really been part of Kevin Durant’s deal uh he is a pros pro total professional all these things he’s never held out um even when he’s made it very clear that even though even when it’s been clear I want to rephrase that even when it’s been very clear that he’s unhappy he’s still gone out there and played to the best of his abilities he was everybody knew he was unhappy his last year in Golden State they still made it to the finals uh he was unhappy in Brooklyn for periods until he got traded and he still went out there and and performed right this is not James Harden pretending to have injuries this is not Jimmy Butler uh who is maybe more comfortable with making things around him uncomfortable than any star we’ve ever seen in the NBA that doesn’t really that’s not Kevin Durant’s deal that’s not his MO that’s not how he operates he’ll he’ll do his thing he’ll try to get his way but if he has to play another year in Phoenix he’ll just play another year in Phoenix i mean he got he was uncomfortable last year after they shopped him at the trade deadline said “Look I don’t want to move in the middle of the year i’m not going to sign off on any of these trades.” and still played out the rest of the season before he was shut down at the very end of the year and played very well towards the end of the season so I I don’t see Kevin Durant doing the Jimmy Butler thing what options would he have in order to get out of Phoenix first of all let’s make this very clear phoenix was shopping Kevin Durant first it’s a little bit different than what Miamiy’s situation was with Jimmy Butler where the Heat were not trying to shop the Heat did not want to trade Jimmy Butler they wanted to deal with it this summer if it was up to the Heat they would have had Jimmy Butler last through the end of the last season and we’d be talking about Jimmy Butler’s future right now if the Heat had their way but they didn’t want to trade him initially and they were forced into having to trade him the Suns brought up all of this the Suns were the team that said “Hey we’re we’re gonna actually go ahead and trade we’re gonna we’re going to take trade calls on Kevin Durant in February right before the trade deadline.” Kevin Durant’s like “Wait what what’s going on you’re taking trade calls on me i thought you were trying to trade Bradley Beal but of course they couldn’t trade Beal because of no trade calls so they had to trade somebody and then they started taking calls on Durant maybe the Suns are disappointed that the same offers that were out there in February for Durant are not the same offers now even although I heard at the time that they were asking price for Durant even then was a lot but they reportedly had a deal in place for Golden State durant said “I don’t want to go back there.” And so the Warriors pivoted ended up trading for Jimmy Butler of course so I think the Suns are just sort of new here you’ve got a new general manager who probably doesn’t want to get fleeced in his first major move i could understand that Heat fans can remember Joe Cronin not exactly the same thing because Cronin was not weeks on the job he was a year on the job at the time of dealing with Miami and and the Damen Lillard stuff but Cronin was new as a general manager and wanted to make a point right and he did he did not trade Dam he did not get strong armed into trading Dame to Miami i don’t know that this is the same thing because this is an inherited mess that’s pretty clear what happened here so I don’t think the same expectations are on the New Sun’s general manager but um I I would understand if uh he came into that job and said “Look I can’t I can’t give this guy up for nothing brian Gregory is his name i can’t just give up Durant for nothing i got to get something of value out of this i got to I got to get a win out of this somehow and if San Antonio Houston and Miami the three teams on Durant’s list of preferred destinations if none of them are coming to the table with anything that represents a W for Brian Gregory and the Phoenix Suns then I understand why they are being stubborn and just waiting this out and the more time that goes by I guess their bet is the more time that goes by the more likely it is that Durant might add teams to that list that they can drum up those offers and that the those offers just something gets added to these offers that is worth Phoenix’s while i don’t know that that’s going to happen going back to Brian Winhorse and his reporting here um reporting that the Suns are not getting anything that they want yet for Kevin Durant he has also added that if he were Houston San Antonio and Miami if they are seriously interested in getting Kevin Durant he wouldn’t budge he would not he wouldn’t change his offer and I agree with him i agree with him i think the Suns are in a tough position here they have zero leverage they have no leverage the Desmond Bane thing going for four first round picks he goes for four first round picks because Memphis had leverage desmond Bane was not for sale and Orlando knocked on the door and said “We really want Desmond Bane.” And Memphis was like “Well we’re not trading him.” And Orlando was like “Well what if we gave you four first round picks?” And Memphis was like “I guess we got to have to trade them right?” It’s like it’s like somebody coming to your house and it’s a $700,000 home and some stranger knocks on your door and offers you $2 million for your home you’re going to turn around and say “Honey we’re moving.” And that’s what happened with Desmond Bane but at the same time if you have a house that’s out there for sale and you’re not getting any offers for it and it’s out there at $700,000 and you’re not getting any offers for it for months then eventually you’re going to have to lower your price and that’s more of where Phoenix is at it has nothing to do with the asset a house could be just as good as the other house could be same thing it’s all about leverage it’s all about positioning it’s all about negotiation it’s all about what you can leverage in a deal and right now Phoenix has no leverage everybody knows outside that Sun’s organization going out of business everything must go you don’t get to you don’t you don’t get customers walking in and then demanding full price for your items anymore it’s not how it works so the Suns are going to have to they’re going to have to to concede here at some point because they’re going to have to move on and they have a deadline and that deadline is probably the NBA draft which is around the league everybody knows they want something done before the draft because they want to enter the draft with potentially some picks in in a position to make some moves during the draft draft the player they want whatever it might be and then a couple days after that free agency starts and they want to be a player they want to have some flexibility that they’re going to create with some of the with some of the cap room that they’re going to be able to create in in trading Kevin Durant and there’s other teams that could get involved right brooklyn is involved as potentially a third team that could take on some stuff so to create more cap space for Phoenix we’ve talked about how Miami doesn’t even need Brooklyn because they can offer the Duncan Robinson contract which is 50% guaranteed phoenix will wave it save $10 million plus whatever the t the luxury tax implications are on top of that if I’m Miami I’m not budging i know what my offer is there’s no Kalware in it we want Kevin Durant kevin Durant wants to come here houston San Antonio they don’t really want this guy they could both Houston and San Antonio can beat any Heat offer the question is will they and my guess is that they won’t maybe maybe but would they really go out of their way i don’t know so if I’m Miami my offer is my offer i don’t budge and as much as it might suck to see Kevin Durant get traded somewhere else as much as an L that as that might be you can’t mortgage the future for a 37year-old you can’t give up all that stuff i don’t know that you can give up who knows what the trade ultimately ends up being if he does indeed land in Miami but this is a 37year-old who’s about to become a free agent you’re going to have to pay and everybody in the league knows he’s going somewhere he’s getting traded the Suns don’t have leverage here i think a trade gets done sooner rather than later i don’t think they can go into the season with Kevin Durant under contract they are just too expensive so to answer the question will Jimmy Will Kevin Durant pull a Jimmy Butler i don’t think it ever gets to that point uh thanks for listening to our little bonus episode here thanks for making Lockdown Heat your first listen every day check out our next episode stay locked into your feed where David and I have our mock off season you’re not going to want to miss that do we trade for Kevin Durant in our mock off season or do we go in a different direction uh stay tuned here locked on heat thanks for listening

An ESPN insider says he would not rule out the Phoenix Suns keeping Kevin Durant if they don’t get a trade offer they like.

Wes Goldberg has the latest on Durant trade talks, why he doesn’t believe the latest stance coming out of Phoenix, and why the Miami Heat should not improve their offer. Also, would Durant ever make things ugly like Jimmy Butler to get his way?

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