The Luka Doncic trade just changed everything for the Suns and the NBA.
The Luka Doncic trade didn’t just shake the NBA. It sent shockwaves through locker rooms, front offices, and group chats alike. Players who once felt untouchable were suddenly questioning their place in the league, stunned that a franchise centerpiece — fresh off an NBA Finals run, squarely in his prime — could be shipped out without warning.
As the news rippled through the Moda Center on Saturday night, seeping into the final moments of the Phoenix Suns’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Kevin Durant took a moment to process the chaos unfolding around him.
“Insane,” Durant said in shock in his post game interview with The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin. “Crazy. It’s crazy. The NBA is a wild place, man. If he could get traded, then anybody’s up for grabs.”
“Insane. It’s crazy, crazy.”
Kevin Durant on mega Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade.
“Players are held to a different standard of loyalty and commitment to a program but the organizations don’t get held to that same standard from the outside.”
On teams following suit before Feb.… pic.twitter.com/DekP4eRN6N
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 2, 2025
The move has GMs across the league scrambling, their phones lighting up with calls from opportunistic execs asking the question now hanging over every franchise: “So… is anyone really untouchable?” Can’t hurt to ask, right? That’s exactly what the Lakers and Mavericks did. What began as a simple, almost absurd inquiry quickly escalated from a grenade of a conversation into a full-blown nuclear detonation.
With players like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant on the roster, there’s no doubt the Suns’ front office is fielding calls, texts, and maybe even the occasional courier pigeon from teams fishing for a miracle. In a league where a single trade can flip the power balance overnight, every GM is dialing in, hoping to catch the Suns in a moment of weakness. Or madness.
Jake Fischer reported via The Stein Line that this is indeed the case as teams across the Association are asking what Kevin Durant could be going for.
The path to Durant alone does seem plausible. Phoenix, entering Monday’s business, continued to signal that it does not plan to move Durant before the deadline, sources said, but the Suns are believed to be listening at the very least to various teams’ pitches for the 35-year-old scoring legend. Durant, meanwhile, is said to be aware of all this.
The Suns, mind you, are expected to maintain a very high asking price before they ever agreed to part ways with him. We’re talking serious draft capital a highly rated young talent. The Suns do have a level of interest in Jonathan Kuminga, sources said.
Why is Phoenix even listening on Durant? The 25-23 Suns simply aren’t in position not to — especially after this Doncic drama. Among the very real domino effects stemming from San Antonio’s acquisition of Fox: The Spurs just got a whole lot better and more competitive and became an even stronger challenger to swipe one of the Western Conference’s coveted Play In Tournament spots from the teams with playoff aspirations (Phoenix, Golden State, Sacramento and Dallas) currently stuck in that range.
It’s become quite evident that the Suns — despite all the digital ink spilled on their weekslong interest in Jimmy Butler — still have no path to acquiring Butler by involving Beal thanks to that pesky no-trade clause. The unrelenting word continues to be that Beal has no desire to bless a trade pretty much anywhere and prefers to remain in Phoenix, where his family has been settled after finally leaving the nation’s capital.
It’s only natural for teams to inquire, and it would be negligence not to at least pick up the phone. And honestly, wouldn’t it be fascinating to see what’s on the table? Kevin Durant’s trade value is never going to be higher than it is right now. If the Suns are willing to face the music — that the Big Three experiment with Booker, Durant, and Beal hasn’t been a successful venture — this could be their chance for a soft reload. Moving Durant wouldn’t mean hitting the reset button; it’d be a retool, a calculated pivot rather than a full-scale teardown.
The fact that Jonathan Kuminga’s name is being floated is intriguing in itself. The seventh overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft has flashed serious upside, averaging 16.8 points across 32 games this season, despite starting only 10 of them. He’s on a $7.6 million contract and set to enter restricted free agency this summer, making him both a valuable asset and a looming financial decision.
If the Suns were to move Durant, Kuminga’s arrival — along with what would surely be a haul of additional assets — could mark the beginning of a new era in Phoenix. Sure, the whole “Bradley Beal and Devin Booker coexisting” thing would need sorting out, but in theory, the Suns would have more flexibility, more trade capital, and a clearer path to reinforcing the fringes of the roster.
This is just one of countless scenarios James Jones, Josh Bartelstein, and Mat Ishbia will be dissecting as the trade deadline looms. Every possibility, every angle, every hypothetical reshuffle of the deck is on the table.
The moral of the story? Luka just reminded us all: No one is safe.