Kevin Durant was subject to trade rumors and was reportedly not approached by the Suns before they engaged in Warriors conversations.
PHOENIX – James Jones, president of basketball operations and general manager of the Phoenix Suns, declined comment about the trade rumors surrounding Kevin Durant.
Jones, whose intention along with majority owner Mat Ishbia has been to extend Durant, who is the Suns’ lone All-Star this season, did not address Durant’s feelings about the trade possibility. According to ESPN, the Suns did not approach Durant to discuss a trade from the Suns. Durant was rumored to be en route to the Golden State Warriors before the Warriors pulled out.
“It’s been my longstanding policy to not talk about rumors, speculation,” Jones said. “I’ve always said what we do internally, we keep internally. It always gets noisy when you’re not winning. We’re not winning, so we just stay above the noise.”
He added that Durant has been “around the noise” of outside speculation and reporting throughout his remarkable 17-year career.
“He’s the best at it,” Jones said. “Like I said there’s noise when you’re not winning, and the simple fact is we haven’t won enough and we’re not winning enough. Storylines pop up. But we’re talking about basketball, and he’s always shown and will continue to show and I think this team will continue to show that despite the things outside of our walls, that we’re focused on the task at hand and focused on ball.”
Durant has proven to be one of the better players in the last four years – if not the best – for the Suns, who since the 2020 season have the most wins in the NBA. This season, the Suns are 24-15 with Durant (.615 winning percentage) and 1-10 without his services.
Phoenix coach Mike Budenholzer said before the Suns’ game against the Utah Jazz that Durant will be unavailable due to a left ankle sprain. Durant is now out for the second straight game.
Durant was selected as an NBA All-Star starter and will represent the Suns for the new-look All-Star game during the weekend of Feb. 16.
Listen to our latest podcast episode in the player below, and to stay up to date on every episode, subscribe to the Suns JAM Session podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Podcasts, Amazon Music, Castbox.
Please subscribe, rate, and review.