The Phoenix Suns were accused of trying to drive up the price for a Kevin Durant trade at the expense of the Toronto Raptors, who are interested but are a long shot to win the bidding.
Michael Granger of Sportsnet Canada reported on Friday night that, contrary to earlier reports, the Raptors are unwilling to include center Jakob Poeltl in a potential Durant deal.
“The reports that the Raptors are monitoring his situation are credible and make sense, given Toronto had conversations with the Suns back in February about the possibility of a Durant trade.
“But to cut through some of the smoke: multiple sources have confirmed to me that Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl would not be part of any deal — however unlikely a Raptors-Suns deal might be — centred around Durant. The Suns were asking for Poeltl at the trade deadline and got a firm ‘no’ back then, but that hasn’t stopped them from asking, apparently,” Granger wrote.
Suns Trying to Leverage Kevin Durant Trade Talks
Getty Jakob Poeltl of the Toronto Raptors is in line for a lucrative extension amid Kevin Durant trade buzz.
Granger’s intel clashed with Brett Seigel of Clutchpoints report earlier Friday that the Raptors had an enticing offer to the Suns, which included Poeltl.
“Even though the Raptors’ offer of either RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley alongside potentially Jakob Poeltl and draft picks is enticing, it is the [Miami] Heat that league personnel are signaling as the team with a better chance at a deal,” Siegel wrote.
Granger explained that the talks involving Poeltl must have come from the Suns’ camp to drive up the price for Durant.
“The best way to understand any mention of Poeltl being in a trade for Durant — or anyone else, but in this case with the Suns — is to recognize that Phoenix is trying to drive up the price,” Granger wrote.
The Suns, after all, are trying to recoup most of what they gave up for Durant in 2023 — four first-round picks and a pick swap on top of Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges.
“If the Raptors are presented as having a strong offer waiting in the wings, perhaps one of Durant’s preferred suitors steps up with something richer, or a team like Minnesota — another team with interest that’s outside Durant’s list — sweetens the pot,” Granger wrote.
No One’s Biting
The Timberwolves have been unwilling to go all in after Durant expressed he does not want to be there.
“I’m told Durant has no desire to be in Minnesota with the Timberwolves,” ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania reported on SportsCenter on June 16.
Durant has one year and $54.7 million left in his current four-year, $190 million contract. He can sign a two-year, $112 million extension wherever he lands next. If he waits six months after the trade, he could fetch more — $124 million over two years, according to Charania.
According to Sam Amick and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the Timberwolves have the high-impact players who the Suns want to get in return for Durant to keep them competitive.
“The Wolves would seem to have options available to offer, with Rudy Gobert or Julius Randle headlining a package that could give the Suns hopes of contending,” Amick and Krawczynski wrote.
The rest of the interested teams — Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets — have been also been unwilling to pay up to Suns’ demands.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Suns Accused of Crafty Play in Kevin Durant Trade Talks: Report appeared first on Heavy Sports.