How the Desmond Bane Trade CHANGES the Phoenix Suns Talks for Kevin Durant

How the Desmond Bane Trade CHANGES the Phoenix Suns Talks for Kevin Durant

today on Locked on Phoenix Suns a solo edition of the show how the Desmond Bane trade affects the Phoenix Suns Kevin Durant negotiations and much more as we are hours days maybe minutes from a Durant trade Let’s go You are Locked On Suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the Locked On podcast network Your team every day Welcome back into Locked On Phoenix Suns I’m Brendan Clean a staff writer at Awful Announcing and a credentialed Suns Media member Thank you for making Locked On Suns your first listen here on this Monday Thank you for starting your week right here with the podcast Don’t forget Locked On Suns is free and available on all platforms including YouTube So click that follow or subscribe button Do what thousands of other Suns fans have already done Become an everydayer Get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day We’ll talk about whether the Suns can in fact thread the needle and stay more competitive with a KD trade rather than a reset or a rebuild and some fact and fiction on all of the reporting flying around related to Kevin Durant and where he might end up But first an out of nowhere trade in the NBA on Sunday Desmond Baiten headed to the Orlando Magic Can recap what that trade is even though you probably have heard it all over the place by now Contavius Caldwell Pope Cole Anthony 202516th pick and then three future picks in 26 28 and 2030 and then a swap in 2029 So right off the bat I have four ways that this impacts the Suns okay and and I put out a some feelers online for you guys to tell me what you wanted to hear about I figured this trade would be one of the main things but uh it absolutely was And so off the bat the Kevin Durant price is up So Jacob Simpson asked about this on Twitter Uh Beardo asked about this on Twitter We’ll talk about it All right the price is up and it’s hard to say exactly how right and I don’t want to draw a one to one right because people always like to talk about the Rudiggo trade for instance well hey that one it was x number of first four five whatever it was plus uh I believe walker Kesler and Oiabaji like that’s or maybe not him whatever that’s a lot how come every other trade for other centers who are similar to go or whatever didn’t fetch that much well you can’t do it that way and in this You especially can’t do it that way because frankly the situation right now is it’s not going to be pick based right so that the main thing of the of the Bane return relates to the main thing of the Bane return relates to draft picks Kevin Durant’s not going to the Suns don’t want draft picks So what does that exactly mean we will see But it is impossible for me to imagine that the Suns are not going to the Memphis Grizzlies or sorry to the team acquiring Kevin Durant at this point in time and saying the Memphis Grizzlies just got this much for Desmond Bane You got to beat that And they’re seeing whether that is indeed possible in total compensation Right The other thing this is a quick one Okay the one of the best things in this entire trade is the 2026 swap rights via the Suns So you know obviously we’re talking about this trade from the standpoint of like hey how does um how does it We’ll get to it in a second Are there Grizzlies players who could be part of this obviously the price stuff Um but the funny part of this is that the primo jewel of the trade that that uh Memphis is getting back is the swap rights to the 2026 pick which I believe both teams actually had uh some kind of ownership of but now the Grizzlies have the best swap of it which is of course the Sunside Third shout out to Flex from Jersey He’s been all over this I I was confused as I think a lot of people were to hear him mentioning the Grizzlies but he’s been right before and I don’t know if he’s going to be right that the trade goes this route but he had sniffed out that Memphis was was talking way before basically anybody else And sure enough I don’t know if this is the beginning of some kind of fire sale for Memphis or something but it is sure a trade that we did not expect And so are they available as a third team is there some sort of chance that you know I mean like we can look at their salary sheet here It doesn’t take you very long to get to Jiren Jackson Jr.’s name You know I’m not going to pretend like that’s not where all of our minds went But you know you even look I don’t know what the rules would be if this trade has been finalized yet but retrading Contavius Caldwell Pope could be part of something They have Kchar at six million Brandon Clark at 12 But look it’s it’s Jiren Jackson right and and that’s handinand number three and number four of my list of ways that this trade impacts the Suns is it comes back to Jiren Jackson right and not just because the Suns need a center not just because he happened to go to Michigan State University and we know the value that that probably holds for this front office Um I believe that I I don’t remember for sure off the top of my head if Jordan Kn was there at that point in time but that I believe Jiren was the 2018 draft so he would not have been there um he he would have been at Atlanta and I don’t remember if Brian Gregory was either but suffice to say we know at this point that it is especially important No uh Brian Gregory was at South Florida by that point It’s it’s it’s a helping hand If it’s a helping hand to be the head coach of the Suns it’s a helping hand to be the starting center of the Suns And the money is is obviously there So you know think about it this way right could could with now having no two guard I’m not I mean Contavius Caldwell Pope I suppose is their two guard but if Memphis wants to reset its salary a little bit given that that Desmond made quite a bit of money He made 37 million and escalating from there Maybe Jaylen Green little bit more shot creation opposite John Morant Could he go to Memphis as part of this if it’s a Houston deal could you know a Julius Randall potentially go to Memphis or I mean heck Rudy Gobear I’m I’m just throwing names out there with the Spurs Could Devin Vel go to Memphis he’s another guy who could be a potential Bane replacement who makes less money and is younger That’s the kind of place that you your head has to go I think when you’re just thinking about this from a Sun standpoint Is Memphis now cropping up as a potential third team where before we were looking at hey does it have to be uh you know the the Nets of course the Pistons have a little bit of cap space potentially Could are they going to be it whatever I mean I don’t know if I said Julius Randall Of course he could be one of these two We’ve been looking at all these things and saying it has to be three teams because of the aprons It has to be three teams because the Suns don’t want this player Brooklyn only fits in so many places and they have their own priorities They’re not just going to give up their cap space to be the Suns pals Even though they’ve traded with the Suns a lot Now there’s now there’s another team and a player in Jiren who look he only makes 23 million this year um this upcoming season So most likely that would be the number he would count for in a trade but he’s looking for an extension If Memphis doesn’t want to pay Desmond Bane $37 million Jiren Jackson’s 26 Do they want to pay Jiren at age 27 starting next year you know four more years after that at what will be a really big raise i don’t know He is still an injury-prone player He does still have his limitations as a rebounder and and everything else I could see the Suns because they don’t want to bottom out and we’ll get to that in in just a moment Can they stay competitive they obviously want to I could see the Suns actually being more determined and more willing to pay for a big extension for a Jiren Jackson than Memphis even though Memphis has drafted him and and developed him and and gotten you know into the playoffs and into the second round a couple times with him It’s weird to say that about a homegrown player but the time might have just run its course So those things have to be swirling The Kadia price has to at least go up in some way If you’re looking at this from the Suns standpoint if I’m Brian Gregory I’m saying Katie’s better than that guy The price is not yesterday’s price And a third team and Jiren Like it it’s really a big wrinkle that just got inserted to this And maybe that wrinkle was there the whole time and we just didn’t know it because we’re sitting here saying Minnesota this and San Antonio that and Houston this other thing and Miami that But now we know it and it really really could change things Let’s get to whether the Suns can really stay competitive because if they’re going after something like Jiren and we don’t know that they are frankly almost anybody that the Suns have are most likely going to be getting back whether you’re talking about a Dylan Brooks or a Fred Van Vleet in Houston or a Julius Randall or a Jaden McD like can they do this can they really pull this off and what does that have to look like i’ll tell you next First today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money Do you ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go well I’m moving right now so I certainly do and we all do It’s easy to lose track That’s where Monarch Money comes in though It’s your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app It’s a complete financial command center You could track all your accounts investments and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building your wealth Here’s the deal Even my wife and I during all this moving it’s like okay the bank account’s fine We got the money to move We we played it pretty pretty smart but we have a list of things we got to buy We have you know a new portal to log into to pay our rent and we got new people involved with the It’s a mess and it’s all 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the deal If you’re wondering if you’re thinking if you’re worrying maybe you’re mad at me for my Padres’s hat and you don’t care what room I’m in Hello welcome Thank you But let’s go to it Okay let’s talk about the the idea of staying competitive right so uh El Tinen gave me a question about this Also got a question from J Jason Schneck I know you guys are both two longtime everydayers and I appreciate you both So I’m going to get to it All right So Jason said “What do you think it will take roster constructionwise to get this team into playoff contention does Booker Parker I don’t know what Parker is that what am I doing who is Parker and Jaylen Green at least get them the eight seed um let me see what L Yeah what am I Who’s Parker who is Parker am I an idiot this is why I need Ben on here I’m I’m I’m used to him at this point My lights falling at the same time And El Tinan said let’s see is is a KD trade enough to get the essential ingredients back for a win now ball club and I think it’s a good question He said 50 win season Obviously you know your mileage may vary I’m sorry that I’m shadowing I’m trying to fix the lighting all in one moment So as far as a Kevin Durant trade goes a Kevin Durant trade goes this question I I think the answer is yes I think that a KD trade can absolutely get the Suns back on the path toward being a competitive team I mean I actually think it may have worked out for the best that this is what they were targeting because frankly as we’ve seen with the Second Apron and even if the Suns are just a first apron team by the time this trade actually goes down if they were to wave Martin or Meich at some point then it’s still complicated and the teams that they’re dealing with are worried about aprons Between Miami Houston and Minnesota all those teams have those problems So you had to get back a big big amount of money and the guys who make a lot of money are usually veterans and they’re the types of players that you kind of have to be ready to compete with So it it’s almost like did the Suns choose this or did the fate just end up in their laps regardless i don’t know But because of that yes they could they’re the the Durant trade is going to put them on that course Again we can go through the names I just mentioned in that last segment with the Jiren stuff I mean Jiren himself if that’s real at all Obviously we’ve talked about Goar Randall Uh maybe Jade McDaniels isn’t quite the type of player where you’re like “All right he’s going to he’s going to be you know the number two player on a on a team that pushes for the you know eight seed or something.” But that’s three guys from Minnesota Dvenzo’s been talked about out of there Obviously if they were able to get Nas Reed that’d be amazing Uh Houston it’s guys like Van Vleet and Brooks who who make the money on that team Even their young guys they just went through a playoff battle They’re ready to continue to compete And Miami I mean it’s Andrew Wiggins it’s Duncan Robinson it’s Terry Roier I mean he might hurt you Unfortunately his career is in a very weird spot on and off the court And even again their young player if it’s KL wear or even if it’s not I I wouldn’t really do a deal with Miami personally if it’s not wear but Hz Yoic those guys have been in deep playoff runs themselves too So no matter where you look it’s all players who are going to help the Suns continue to win Now if you’re setting the bar as L you did in your question or or some of the people I’ve you know I’ve seen even even Jason like he said eighth seed that’s where I start to worry because look you don’t need me to tell you the Suns were nowhere near the eight seed this season and they had Kevin Durant they also had guys like Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal who I believe it was Mark Stein reported over the weekend that there’s at least some kind of conjecture and conversation around the NBA that those guys could be roped into some kind of have been and may be part of the ultimate Kevin Durant deal The Suns can’t aggregate salaries but they might You know if you if you do it as two separate trades for instance you can get around that kind of stuff as we talked about with Beal and everything So those are a lot of players that were on last year’s team who you would think would have been veteran hey let’s win now types of pieces already the team sucked and I could imagine the Suns having a little bit of a of an onus on them to get those to to move off of those players because they’re paid a lot They could have value to other teams There’s no real need to keep you know a approaching his mid30s Royce O’Neal or an in his prime Grayson Allen necessarily this year M maybe maybe if you are trying to win but I think you’ll at least explore the market And again the team was bad anyway And so to me the thing is that they really need to get if they want to win if they want to get anywhere closer to that type of eight seed positioning is they have to get deeper They absolutely have to get deeper And so that’s really the question to me is is there a pathway this summer that allows you to get deeper one it has to start with nailing draft picks So you know if it’s Miami that that this deal goes down with I think you might be able to get 20 That’s the Warriors pick this year but they have it So you’re getting now you’re up at 20 and 29 Do you take two players do you try to package them together and trade up that type of thing If it’s Minnesota I believe they have 17 and 31 Could you get one or both of those picks same same thing You start to add young players that way You know San Antonio has 14 the Rockets Can you get 10 um I don’t think the Rockets have their own pick I think they just have 10 So you’re probably looking at no matter what trade you’re adding another first round pick this year and some players If Ryan Dunn is playable if Nick Richards is playable you have Devin Booker There’s obviously a huge Bradley Beals-ized question in everything we talk about that makes it really hard to answer this question But let’s just say you don’t Let’s just say whether he’s on the team or not you you just put a a zero in his spot Well that’s a dead kind of roster spot dead position on the books So it it just gets really hard to assemble Like let’s say that they get you know let’s say that they they that Jaylen Green goes to um let’s say Jaylen Green goes to Memphis I’m just spitballing We’ll talk about fact and fiction of these all these competing rumors about whether KD is actually going to any of these places in just a second but let let’s just do the Houston one Jaylen Green goes to Memphis Jiren Jackson comes back to Phoenix and let’s say it’s um Jabari Smith as well comes back to Phoenix and I don’t know I don’t even think that that’s possible Those guys play similar positions I have no clue Um and they get not 10 but I don’t know some kind of second round pick or something All right So I don’t let’s just say then at that point you start Booker you start Grayson you start um Jabari Jiren and Ryan Dunn or something I don’t know And then off the bench I mean what do you you have Nick Richards you have Royce O’Neal or whatever you get back I mean like it it’s just it’s hard to imagine a version that is better enough than last year and deep enough So I I hate to be that guy and and I I could easily be proven wrong There’s so many whatifs still as we’re about to get into with the fact and fiction of all these these possibilities here But as far as right now I just look at it and I say the team this upcoming season I think it’s too quick to imagine a a full revolve what revolution of the roster a a turnover of the roster that’s going to allow you to basically get rid of what didn’t work and get in enough stuff to to change the team up and and put it in a new direction They were one of the worst defenses in the NBA They had no center that that was playable at a high level They had like five guards and the only one who was really above average was Devin Booker That’s just really far away Not to mention you’re getting rid of pro you’re getting rid of the not probably you’re getting rid of the dude who was the best player on your team last year Like start there and then get to everything else I said And and I hate to do to do this but I just don’t think so I don’t think the answer is that they’re going to be anywhere near an eight seed or 50 wins this upcoming season Could they go on the road in a playin game get the nine or 10 seedater i mean heck yeah sure they could get the eight seed but I don’t think that’s going to be 50 wins first off and second off I am skeptical of all of that Anyway let’s close out with what’s real and not real regarding Kevin Durant destinations The truth as I can hopefully try to give it to you next First today’s show brought to you by the FanDuel sports book It’s that time of year The NBA finals are roaring and every night delivers highlightworthy performances major momentum shifts and can’t miss moments So whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player there’s never been a better time to get in on the action FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and even live With player props performance trends and same game parlays fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big Let’s see WNBA have been told you guys telling you guys to smash that those favorites in the W world Let’s see Here we go Caitlyn Clark back fresh off a 32-point performance on Saturday They are hosting the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night and they are minus800 favorites That is as good of a odds as you’re going to get So put some money down on Caitlyn and the Fever And if you’re new to FanDuel it’s the perfect time to sign up for it Head to FanDuel.com place your first $5 bet and get those $200 in bonus bets with those big odds I just gave you That’s the best you’re going to do Try it out $5 on the Fever get your $200 in bonus bets if it wins and then have some fun with the rest of the wide world of sports Make every moment more with FanDuel the official sports betting partner of the NBA All right let’s close it out So there’s there’s a couple competing things going on Let’s start with the biggest news since we last put out an episode though Okay so on Saturday night Sham Shirania reported that the Miami Heat San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets are Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant’s preferred trade destinations sources told ESPN People across the NBA have been aware in recent days that those are the three teams Durant would commit to with a long-term extension Okay so what does that mean that gave way to more reports In the Shams piece about this the Suns have made clear to the six to eight seriously interested teams that they will make the best deal for the franchise even if it means trading Durant to a team outside his preferred list Sources said his contract extension would be two years 122 million at most So right away right there right you’re seeing the sun So Durant clearly would be the the side of this that would leak hey here’s my three teams right this happened in 2022 when it was Phoenix and Miami and then ultimately he went to the Suns 6 months later eight months later and it’s happening again now And so that’s the Durant side who would be making that part clear And then right away right here in the the Suns have made clear that they will take the best deal for the franchise even if it means trading Durant outside his preferred list That’s the Suns with their own leverage in return Right And then we basically saw that a version of that play out over the course of the weekend more specifically with the teams on that list So you’ve heard a little bit of cold water thrown on San Antonio and Houston Kind of depending on where you’re looking but that’s been right San Antonio you know they’re unwilling to include Sohan or they’re unwilling to include Castle or the number two pick or maybe the Suns don’t like Vel or whatever kind of angle of it you might be thinking there And then Houston hey the you know their their push for KD is more coming from Mimodoka It’s not really as aggressive as you might think and they’re still hesitant there There’s some kind of pathway that they might want to go for it but but it’s not likely whatever So then you would think if there’s more push back on the Spurs and Rockets side but not a lot of push back on the Heat side well then well it sounds like Miami might be the front runner maybe depending on what you believe So then once again you could look at the Suns continuing to to uh emphasize Mark Stein had had the same thing Hey we are open to trading him to a team that may not sign him right if it’s Miami let’s just say let’s just say that the Spurs and Rockets hesitancy is real and the fact that there’s not a lot of negative negativity around the Miami side of it is real and Miami is the front runner Well then it would make sense for the Suns once again to say “Hey well we’re not it’s not a given We’re just going to send him to you right i mean this would have played out let’s say if KD only said Miami right well then you would have of course expected the Suns to come back with you know the the negotiating ploy of saying “Okay that’s cool if it’s Miami If that’s where you want to be we’re not necessarily sending you to Miami.” And and of course you know the it could get ugly from there It happened with Damen Lillard and he ended up elsewhere It can happen but that’s what you would expect the the the public leaks to to look like And that would be designed to say okay we understand it’s most likely going to be the Heat And frankly the Heat have a package that we would say yes to if we’re Matt HB and Brian Gregory right but you know it’s not hard to imagine that this is hinging on potentially KL Wear right we’ll trade him to Toronto if the Heat don’t include KL Wear Like that could literally be what this is That could literally be what this holdup right here is It could be legitimately based on KL Wear if Miami is saying all right you take uh like there was reports that at the deadline they wouldn’t include where or Hakez and so maybe the young player back could have been Yoic or something Now it might be well look it’s not going to be Yoic that’s not going to be the centerpiece of a trade Hake’s had a down season It’s not going to be him and so it has to be where And if it’s not where the Suns can say all right well we’ll call Toronto We’ll call the Clippers these kind of wildcard teams I mean even in Shamsa’s story he says there’s three teams Katie wants to go to but there’s six to eight who are seriously interested right so if you if you include Toronto and the Clippers which we’ve heard about that gets you to five If you go to uh Minnesota who of course we we’ve heard plenty about that could be six And then you know may what maybe the Knicks are teasing They’re still actually in this They were lying before I don’t know You can you can piece it together So to me that’s where this inevitably is going I don’t know exactly what’s true or false cuz look I’m not an insider I don’t talk to executives and agents and get all this info about everything But what I can do is read through those tea leaves and and I’ve you know followed along with plenty of these including when the Suns were going to get Durant and try to make sense of it And and that’s the sense that I’m making I don’t want to make it seem like I’m telling you the heat of the front runners but they’re at least the team that the least push back has come from And I think the East is mighty nice And I think KL Wear is exactly what the Suns want with everything we’ve heard You know a long-term center So that’s where I see things in terms of the latest reporting and rumors and that’s where I see it going from here Seems like it’s any day now Ben will be back tomorrow We’ll have the latest for you no matter if he’s traded or not Enjoy your Monday and we’ll catch you next time

Desmond Bane flipped the NBA trade market on its head for the Phoenix Suns, creating a potential third team in a Kevin Durant trade and making Jaren Jackson Jr. a potentially available new star for the Valley.

Brendon Kleen breaks down all the ripple effects before playing Fact Vs. Fiction around the latest with KD and his list of preferred teams.

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