In an NBA trade deadline that was as wild as they come, Kevin Durant’s rumored departure from Phoenix was the big deal that didn’t go down.
With the deadline passed and Durant still a member of the Suns, Durant talked Monday about the swirling rumors that did not come to fruition. He spoke candidly about the nature of the NBA trade block while implying that he’s at peace with the Suns reportedly shopping him.
“It’s just business, man. It’s just part of the business,” Durant told reporters. “Everybody’s bought and sold in this league. Anybody can be up for auction. I understand that.
“It’s just about getting back on the court and trying to play the game that I love. It’s a part of business, though, we all gotta understand that.”
Kevin Durant addressing the Suns trade rumors: “It’s just part of the business, man. Everybody’s bought and sold in this league, everybody can be up for auction. So I understand that. It’s just about getting back on the court and trying to play the game that I love” pic.twitter.com/oHVEOv9ZsG
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) February 10, 2025
Durant’s a 14-time All-Star, four-time scoring champ, two-time champion and former MVP. He’ll be voted into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. In a league where 25-year-old perennial MVP candidate Luka Dončić gets traded, Durant said he recognizes that stature doesn’t shield players from the trade block. Only a no-trade clause does.
“I understand the business,” Durant continued. “That’s what we all signed up for. Nobody’s above the system. As much as, you know — how much status I’ve got, how much I’ve acquired in this league, you’re still not above the business. And I always understood that.
“It’s about doing the best I can on the floor, man, and focusing on that. Keeping the main thing the main thing. The business will take care of itself.”
The Suns were expected to be among the league’s buyers at the deadline in an effort to build around Durant and Devin Booker. That they coveted Jimmy Butler was no secret. With Bradley Beal’s contract as an impediment to any deal, Durant’s name surfaced closed to the deadline as a chip in those trade talks.
Durant was also linked to a Warriors reunion that he reportedly had no interest in. Ultimately, Butler ended up in Golden State and Durant stayed put in Phoenix with a 10th-place Suns team that made no appreciable moves at the deadline to get better.
While it was was a disappointing deadline in Phoenix, the good news for Suns fans is that Phoenix still has one of the best basketball players in the world in Durant. None of the rumors that involved trading Durant made much basketball sense or projected to make the Suns a better team. And Durant said Monday that he expects to return from a sprained ankle to face the Grizzlies on Tuesday.
But without a significant roster upgrade at the deadline, Phoenix faces an unlikely path to contention in the West, which was already stacked and saw multiple teams around the Suns get better.
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