The Toronto Raptors have been one of the busiest teams in the trade market in recent years, and that likely won’t stop anytime soon. But would they actually try to trade for Kevin Durant?
Not long ago, they traded away Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby in separate deals. Those moves netted draft capital, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett, but Siakam is currently playing in the NBA Finals, and Anunoby made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
They also traded for Brandon Ingram ahead of the 2025 NBA trade deadline, but the lanky wing has yet to suit up for the Raptors. Kevin Durant could be the team’s next trade target.
Ingram has drawn comparisons to Durant, but the 2014 MVP is the vastly superior player. The Raptors’ first priority appears to be Giannis Antetokounmpo, but considering he is younger than Durant and still one of the three or four best players in the NBA, he will be highly coveted in the trade market.
Plus, it is becoming more and more likely that he will return to the Milwaukee Bucks. Durant is a really good backup option for Toronto if Antetokounmpo is off the table, but what would it take to acquire the all-time great small forward from the Phoenix Suns?
Raptors’ package for possible trade for Kevin Durant
Raptors receive: Kevin Durant
Suns receive: RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl, 2025 pick No. 9
The Raptors have one of the most interesting roster builds in the NBA. They’ve invested tons of money in Ingram, Barrett, Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, and Scottie Barnes. That core of long but offensively inefficient players resulted in just the 11-seed last season.
The Raptors have some solid players, but as of now, they are too good to earn a high draft pick but too bad to compete for a championship, and that will remain the case even after Ingram comes into the fold.
Durant is one of the best players ever, and he has championship experience, too. A move for the Slim Reaper could help the Raptors get over the hump. Durant is close to 7 feet tall and can score from anywhere on the court. Durant has the size that the Raptors love, but he is a much more efficient player than somebody like Barrett.
Some view Barrett as overrated, and others view him as underrated. He averaged 21.1 points per game this season, but he has a career 44.1% field-goal rate.
Durant, meanwhile, just scored 26.6 points per game on 52.7% shooting. Durant is 36 years old, but he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, so he could certainly give the Raptors a few more good years, especially because he has made it clear that his next team will be his last team.
With Durant on the roster, the Raptors would start him, Barnes, and Ingram at the wing positions. There would be a lot of questions about the rest of the roster. Notably, the team’s depth would take a hit in this trade. Moving Poeltl would create a hole at center, too.
Still, a Durant move would at least help them in choosing an organizational-wide direction. The Raptors can’t afford to be mediocre anymore, and trading for Durant would help because he is the ultimate floor-raiser.
Would the Suns trade Kevin Durant?
While Durant hasn’t outright requested a trade, it seems inevitable that the Suns will move him this offseason. The big three of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal was disastrous. Booker is the team’s franchise player, and Beal has a contract that makes him almost untradable.
Durant was being shopped around ahead of the trade deadline, so he will surely be moved this offseason. The Raptors would be somewhat of a surprise landing spot for Durant because they can’t offer the draft capital that teams such as the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets can offer.
The Suns might not want to go into a full-blown rebuild, though, especially because they will likely keep Booker around. That means adding depth, which has been an issue for the team recently, could be smart.
Barrett could help fill the scoring void left by the departing Durant, and he could be Beal’s long-term replacement at shooting guard. Poeltl would give the team a legitimate center, which has been arguably the Suns’ biggest weakness recently.
The Suns would have been picking 10th in the 2025 NBA Draft if the Rockets didn’t own their pick, so adding the ninth overall selection would be helpful, too.
The Durant experiment was a worthwhile gamble as the Suns were undergoing new ownership, but it is time to move in a new direction. There are likely better trade packages out there than what the Raptors have to offer, but the Suns should be willing to hear Toronto out.
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