San Antonio Spurs Urged to Pursue Talented New Orleans Pelicans Star Instead of Kevin Durant by 1 Analyst

However, long-time podcaster Bill Simmons explained that trading for Durant is not ideal for the San Antonio Spurs since he is not getting any younger. Instead, Simmons pitched an intriguing alternative on his podcast.

“(Trey Murphy) is the guy I think the Spurs should get. If I was Spurs consigliere, like, are we getting Durant? He’s 37. Let’s give up some of the same stuff we were going to give up for Durant, throw some more picks in it, and actually try to get Murphy, who you know is hitting his mid-20s,” Simmons stated.

“And try to get somebody who is actually more on our timeline, who is going to give us a lot of the stuff we would have wanted anyway. And I also think his value is lower than it should be because he didn’t work out all last year because he didn’t know if he was getting his extension or not,” he added.

San Antonio Spurs named as the “strongest suitor” for Kevin Durant

As mentioned, many believe the San Antonio Spurs are in pole position to acquire Kevin Durant . According to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro, the Phoenix Suns could send the one-time league MVP to Texas “right before” this summer’s NBA Draft.

“The team that I heard last night in speaking to somebody pretty close to the situation with KD is keep your eye on the Spurs,” Gambadoro said. “KD could have some interest in the Spurs. That may be a good landing spot for him with (De’Aaron) Fox and (Victor) Wembanyama, an up-and-coming team on the rise that has a great defensive anchor on their team and a terrific young player in Stephon Castle.”

“I expect that a KD deal would happen right before the draft because you want to include draft capital in the deal. So a KD trade would come up this month, sometime before the draft, probably close to the draft if it’s gonna happen.”