Should Suns Regret Kevin Durant Trade?

It's been a few weeks since the Phoenix Suns traded Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for a package headlined by Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks.

The Suns went all-in on Durant in February 2023, hoping that would be the final push necessary to make it to the NBA Finals, but that didn't end up being the case.

Expectations were high for the Suns, but ultimately they were unable to reach them. Bleacher Report writer Grant Hughes questions whether the Suns should regret making the Durant trade.

"In the end, the Phoenix Suns turned Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four unprotected first-round picks and a first-round swap into Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Koby Brea, Daeqwon Plowden and two second-round picks," Hughes wrote.

"For about 20 months in the interim, they also got to have Kevin Durant on a roster that went 85-79 and won zero playoff games across two seasons.

"... Maluach is an exciting center prospect, new addition Mark Williams is a mid-tier starter if healthy and maybe the Jalen Green-Dillon Brooks combo will help the Suns threaten for a playoff spot in support of Devin Booker.

"Overall, it's hard to avoid feeling like Phoenix wasted two years and a horde of draft picks for nothing."

The Suns' aggressive approach of going all in with Durant and Bradley Beal while disregarding and hardly prioritizing draft picks and development cost Phoenix deeply as the league took a turn towards deeper rosters having success.

Phoenix was hoping that the days of the short rotation would carry into the middle of the decade, but as the league's stars began to age, the younger generation got better across the board, forcing teams to play nine or 10 players deep in the rotation.

That cost the Suns, who deserve credit for taking a big swing, but might regret it in the years to come.