Suns’ Kevin Durant Trade Can Be Salvaged After Rarly Playoff Exit

(CTN News) – At this point, the Phoenix Suns’ trade for Kevin Durant appears a bust. As a result of the Suns’ second round elimination in six games to the Denver Nuggets, there are no other takeaways.

Phoenix lost Game 6 125-100 in a rout from the opening tip. Landry Shamet, Jock Landale, and Cam Payne started for the Suns in a do-or-die playoff game.

A 2028 draft pick swap was included in the trade to Brooklyn for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and four unprotected first-round picks. Kevin Durant turns 35 in the offseason.

With a groin strain, Chris Paul missed the last four games of the series against the Nuggets. As soon as possible, the Suns must become a championship team. Team needs a lot of upgrades, but no draft picks can be traded to get them.

Despite a disappointing playoff exit, there are a few pivots they should keep in mind to save the Suns this summer.

Bruce Brown’s signing and the KCP trade are needed by the Suns

Due to Jamal Murray’s torn ACL, the NBA never got to see how good the Nuggets were before this season. But Denver still made some bold moves to upgrade the roster despite the return of their second best player.

First, Washington traded Will Barton and Monte Morris for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Next was signing guard Bruce Brown away from the Nets for two years, $13 million.

Brown and KCP give the Nuggets two tough perimeter defenders who can cut and space. Phoenix needs players like Kevin Durant and Booker.

During the regular season, the Suns would have ranked 28th with a defensive rating of 118.3. But in the playoffs, the Suns shot 25.8 threes per game, dead-last among playoff teams.

Chris Paul needs to go

Suns missed the playoffs for 10 straight seasons before getting Chris Paul in a trade. Since then, Phoenix has made it to the NBA Finals twice.

While trading Paul won’t be easy, it’s the best option to help reload around Kevin Durant and Booker. At this point in his career, Paul can’t be trusted to finish a playoff run – he’s not an outlier, he’s a trend.

In the next season, Paul has only a partial guarantee of $15.8 million, and the following season is fully unguaranteed. With his big salary number, Phoenix could match contracts to acquire multiple players, and the other end could just cut him after next year.

Does anyone want 38-year-old Chris Paul? The flexibility CP3’s contract offers could be appealing to a team in the right package, but there’s no obvious suitor at the moment.

Kevin Durant needs to get back to his best

It’s easy. Kevin Durant wasn’t at his best in the playoffs this year, not even close. He finished with 29.5 points, 9.7 rebounds, and five assists per game on 45.4 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent shooting from three. Numbers per game were great, but efficiency wasn’t.

Two years ago, Durant looked like the best player in the world against the Bucks. The Celtics (who swept his Nets in 2022) and the Nuggets have slowed him down since then.

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