What a blockbuster move by Phoenix and new owner Matt Ishbia. The Phoenix Suns have made the biggest move of the trade deadline as they coughed up 5 1st round picks and four roster players to acquire Kevin Durant in a deal that also involved the Nets, Pacers, and Bucks.
WHAT. A. TRADE!
This might very well be the biggest trade in the last 5 years after all the moving pieces and parts are accounted for and settled down in their new locations. The Suns desperately needed an outside spark from this trade deadline day as their playoff and championship hopes were slipping before their very eyes.
Despite having guys like Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and DeAndre Ayton, the Suns dropped from 1st place in the West at the start of the season to now sit in 5th place with a 30-26 record. Simply put, the Suns were heading towards disaster if they didn’t bring in a huge name to bolster the roster today. And that’s exactly what they did by acquiring Kevin Durant.
Sure, the Suns ensured in 3-5 years that this team will be utterly atrocious by giving up their 2023, 2025, 2027, 2028 (pick swap), and 2029 1st round picks, Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, and Juan Pablo Vaulet to the Nets, and Jae Crowder to the Bucks, but the next two or so years this team will be DANGEROUS. Just look at their predicted starting 5 now: PG Chris Paul, SG Devin Booker, PF Kevin Durant, SF Torey Craig, C DeAndre Ayton.
There’s not a better on-paper (key words here) starting 5 in the league, and I’m including the likes of the Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Memphis Grizzlies in that count. Essentially, this is now a championship or bust season for HC Monty Williams and the Suns as they not only have a fantastic roster now, but it is also an extremely old one.
Three of their starting 5 are over 32 years of age (Chris Paul: 37 years old, Torrey Craig: 32 years old, and Kevin Durant: 34 years old), while Devin Booker is hitting the prime of his career as he’s now 26 years old. This is simply an old roster that got even older with the addition of Durant, even if he’s one of the best players to have ever graced an NBA court. Moreover, this team is extremely injury-prone.
Paul, Durant, and Booker have all missed at least 10+ games this season, and Craig has been mostly a bench player before this move today. To be honest, the most challenging thing ahead of the Suns might be getting this phenomenal 5 roster all on the court at the same time…but I’m sure that’s a problem the Suns like having.
As for the Bucks, Pacers, and Nets, they also made out great in this trade.
The Bucks got a hard-nose, tough, clutch shooting defender in Jae Crowder that has me really worried as a Celtics fan as he has proven his ability to get teams to the NBA Finals with his two Finals appearances in the last three seasons. He’s exactly the kind of player the Bucks have needed since their 2021 championship win, which should be scary for every Eastern Conference contender.
The Nets, meanwhile, got a boat load of picks and a really good scorer and defender in Mikal Bridges from the Suns that will help owner Joe Tsai and the rest of the Nets franchise to rebuild from the disaster that was the KD-Kyrie link up, while the Pacers picked up great depth players in George Hill Serge Ibanka, and Jordan Nwora from Milwaukee for Crowder (he went to the Pacers originally).
All in all, every one of these teams won in this monstrous trade as it allowed them all to address a pressing concern on their, respective, rosters. But if I had to pick a grand winner, I’d say Milwaukee as they got a great piece for relatively small price.
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