Miami Heat rumors: Kevin Durant dominos begin to fall in Phoenix
The Miami Heat are firmly in the running for the services of Kevin Durant as the NBA Offseason progresses along. As Durant officially requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, it was publicized that the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat were the top two preferred destinations of the seemingly disgruntled star.
With that, it was up to those two teams, initially, to see who could find a way to put a better package together for Brooklyn. With the Suns and their young big man, Deandre Ayton, on the outs, it was believed that using him as an asset to get a deal done would be the route taken.
However, that no longer seems to be the case.
This essentially takes Deandre Ayton off board as a trade chip for the Suns in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Now going to be tough for Phoenix to put together an offer that meets the Nets’ demands. https://t.co/7Kbzl8uXjL
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) July 14, 2022
As noted by Chiang in the above tweet, Ayton being off the board makes things exponentially harder for the Suns to put together a package to entice Brooklyn.
The Miami Heat are still in the running for Kevin Durant and perhaps, the leaders at the moment after the Suns’ Deandre Ayton signed offer sheet with Indy.
And with Ayton signing the offer sheet from Indiana, that adds a layer of surrounding details and restrictions to what the Suns can actually do from here out.
So far, Suns haven't shown an interest in negotiating a sign-and-trade on Ayton with the Pacers, but the expectation remains that Phoenix will match the record-$133M offer sheet once it's signed, sources tell ESPN. Suns could trade Ayton as soon as Jan. 15 once sheet is matched.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 14, 2022
The Suns, then, couldn’t conceivable try to move Ayton again until 2023. That throws multiple wrenches into the plan.
There’s a strong chance Kevin Durant is moved by then and settled with his new team. That also presents the question of Ayton’s reintegration into the Suns’ plans, thus alleviating the desire to move him at that time.
There is also one more thing to this that really spices the whole scenario up. If the Suns are to match the deal offered by the Indiana Pacers, which they presumably will according to Wojnarowski above, Ayton has trade veto power for a year.
So, while the Miami Heat aren’t actively any closer to a deal for Durant, one would assume, their chances did passively just get better. With them and Phoenix, again, being the top two preferred choices by Durant, this set of events and circumstances make things a bit more murky for Phoenix to get a deal done.
Next. Miami Heat version of LeBron James was the absolute best one. dark
Now, only time will tell. Hopefully, Pat Riley is somewhere playing clockmaker.