NBA Rumors: Suns “Not Counting On” Kevin Durant

With their move to match the Indiana Pacers’ max offer sheet to restricted free agent Deandre Ayton, the Phoenix Suns, says NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, have basically taken themselves out of the running for Kevin Durant. 

"It just closes some windows that the Suns were interested in pursuing to get Kevin Durant."

- ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the Suns matching Deandre Ayton’s offer sheet pic.twitter.com/ZcY0Nkxt5y

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 15, 2022

With Ayton now being unable to be traded for at least six months—and even then, he has veto power because of the offer sheet match—it's going to make a trade for KD that much more difficult.

"It just closes some windows that the Suns were interested in pursuing to get Kevin Durant," said Windhorst on his Hoops Collective podcast. 

“This is them partially saying ‘We’re not counting on Kevin Durant. We have a 64-win team. This is going to take us into the tax.'" Indeed, the Suns are now $15M into the tax with Ayton's $133M deal in tow. 

As for Durant offers, Windy says “I think the position they’re taking is that they’ve made their offer for Kevin Durant. And their offer is their offer. And it’s not an offer that the Nets are interested in. I’m not even sure the Suns can put together an offer that the Nets would be interested in by themselves. I think this is where the other teams are as well.”

It's starting to look more and more like KD could still be a Brooklyn Net when the 2022-23 season gets underway.

Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports