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Kevin Durant was "not happy" he was included in trade talks involving the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat this week, especially because he wasn't informed he was even in them. Durant had the opportunity to be traded to the Warriors, but he communicated he didn't want a return to his former team.

"The prevailing thing from the trade deadline was what didn't happen, which was Kevin Durant stayed put," said Brian Windhorst on The Hoop Collective. "He was not happy he was put into trade talks. I think it's unpredictable what will happen for the next few months because it's the nature of the sport, but I think right now it is reasonable to forecast that Durant will be breaking up with the Suns in the summer. He didn't break up with them today, but it doesn't look for the long-term forecast because he was really frustrated.

"I spent a long time today on the phone with people involved with this situation. People from Miami. People from Golden State. People from Phoenix. Other people. I would just say that the biggest thing Kevin Durant was upset about, I think, not knowing he was involved in trade talks.

"Generically, a star player of his level likes to be involved in trade talks. That was an issue. The thing about it was the Suns ended up not getting anything."

The one trade the Suns made at the deadline was a salary dump of Jusuf Nurkic after they had spent weeks pursuing a trade of Bradley Beal for Jimmy Butler. After it became clear there was no path to acquiring Butler, the Suns began to listen to trade offers on Durant.

Beyond the Warriors, the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves also reportedly had interest in Durant. The Houston Rockets have also been linked with Durant over the past year.

Via Brian Windhorst/ESPN

What a terrible franchise. All this over Jimmy Butler who Durant is significantly better than

bqmuzik wrote:What a terrible franchise. All this over Jimmy Butler who Durant is significantly better than

All this is over this Suns team being mediocre and already having basically failed. The Butler trade stuff is just a symptom of that. They didn’t have to blow it up this deadline but writing is on the wall (unless something very unexpected happens in the PO).

KD is so stupid

Suns are cooked he could’ve gone to Houston or Memphis and completed for a chip

Durant not happy is the status quo

arbsn wrote:KD is so stupid

Suns are cooked he could’ve gone to Houston or Memphis and completed for a chip

Rockets were not an option.

They weren't willing to upset the roster this season, even for KD (per Marc Stein and others)

Houston was always waiting until summer -- wanted to take a shot with this core first, like OKC did -- before chasing a big vet

Suns biggest mistake was trading CP3 when they didn't have to. Suns became contenders overnight by just simply adding CP3 to their roster. The season before they didn't even make playoffs and with CP3 they won over 60 games the next season. They got KD and had no reason to trade him for Beal when he was the reason the Suns were winning.

t-rexCity wrote:Suns biggest mistake was trading CP3 when they didn't have to. Suns became contenders overnight by just simply adding CP3 to their roster. The season before they didn't even make playoffs and with CP3 they won over 60 games the next season. They got KD and had no reason to trade him for Beal when he was the reason the Suns were winning.

Exactly this. If I were the Suns, I would have seen if the Spurs were interested in Beal for CP3 and salary fillers and if Beal was interested in joining the Spurs after the Spurs got Fox.

tigerae wrote:

t-rexCity wrote:Suns biggest mistake was trading CP3 when they didn't have to. Suns became contenders overnight by just simply adding CP3 to their roster. The season before they didn't even make playoffs and with CP3 they won over 60 games the next season. They got KD and had no reason to trade him for Beal when he was the reason the Suns were winning.

Exactly this. If I were the Suns, I would have seen if the Spurs were interested in Beal for CP3 and salary fillers and if Beal was interested in joining the Spurs after the Spurs got Fox.

Every single NBA fan with a proper head on their shoulders knew that Beal was a poison pill the moment the rumours came up. It was a dumb trade that was never going to work. How did they figure having 2 shooting guards that are ball dominant and play no defense would work? Nevermind also having KD who is basically a 7' shooting guard? No PG and no C...when has that ever worked?

puja21 wrote:

arbsn wrote:KD is so stupid

Suns are cooked he could’ve gone to Houston or Memphis and completed for a chip

Rockets were not an option.

They weren't willing to upset the roster this season, even for KD (per Marc Stein and others)

Houston was always waiting until summer -- wanted to take a shot with this core first, like OKC did -- before chasing a big vet

If KD wanted out and could be had for the right price, I'm sure anyone would trade for him.

As I mentioned in a thread on the General Board relating to the Suns and their situation, Ishbia has stabbed himself in the foot over his comments about how Durant was untouchable along with Booker once he was acquired, once again telling teams that Durant wasn't going to be available once things began to heat up, but then relenting and said he'd listen to offers given how his Beal trade blew up in his face after Beal said he'd not waive his NTC to be a part in bringing Jimmy Butler to the valley.

The well is now good and poisoned for sure and it's only going to get worse. Whatever players had in their minds about Ishbia before has to have gone right out the window. Players aren't going to come here, not that they were beating down the doors anyway after his purchase of the team.

tigerae wrote:

t-rexCity wrote:Suns biggest mistake was trading CP3 when they didn't have to. Suns became contenders overnight by just simply adding CP3 to their roster. The season before they didn't even make playoffs and with CP3 they won over 60 games the next season. They got KD and had no reason to trade him for Beal when he was the reason the Suns were winning.

Exactly this. If I were the Suns, I would have seen if the Spurs were interested in Beal for CP3 and salary fillers and if Beal was interested in joining the Spurs after the Spurs got Fox.

Beal made it abundantly clear he wasn't interesting in moving, period. MIA was on his short list before he was traded to PHX and didn't want to go as part of the Butler trade, so why in the hell would he choose SA over MIA?

The suns emplosion should be studied

I'm so tired of today's "superstars."

The Sun's biggest mistake was trading for Beal last year I'm surprised Wizards even found a team to take it considering Beal's injury history

KD deserved a lot of credit for the Ws winning two rings and the fact that he played without complain even when getting injured.

But dude made a bad decision to take the LeBron route by leaving the Ws, otherwise he would have a couple more rings and people would start recognizing him as the man for the team. Now he is falling to be a trade chip.

There go cupcake again

jstudabaka wrote:There go cupcake again

Seriously

danfantastk32 wrote:

jstudabaka wrote:There go cupcake again

Seriously

I can't wait till he gets his jersey retired in OKC. You just know he's gonna find some issue with it, and sulk about it for years after. The guy is unreal.

hyberx wrote:KD deserved a lot of credit for the Ws winning two rings and the fact that he played without complain even when getting injured.

But dude made a bad decision to take the LeBron route by leaving the Ws, otherwise he would have a couple more rings and people would start recognizing him as the man for the team. Now he is falling to be a trade chip.

KD took the Lebron route by jumping a sinking ship in OKC and joining GSW. He left GSW because he was openly ridiculed for the move and wasn't happy there. We all need to chase our own happiness!