The Dallas Mavericks' offer for Kevin Durant
With the injury to Kyrie Irving, which is likely going to keep him out for the majority of next season, the Dallas Mavericks are likely going to enter the offseason with some desperation to acquire a star to salvage the move for Anthony Davis. Would a trade for Kevin Durant accomplish that? That's tough to tell, but it's certainly worth a gamble at this point. Especially considering that the alternative probably revolves around trading Anthony Davis and pivoting toward a complete rebuilding of the roster.
The difficulty, as you would expect, in the Mavs' path toward landing KD revolves around whether they could put together a competitive enough offer. For the Mavs to even get close for salary purposes, they'd have to include a plethora of players in a deal. This offer specificially, assuming the Mavs would not want to trade Kyrie, would have to include Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Caleb Martin. To add some icing on the cake, the Mavs could include the rights to their 2025 first-round draft pick.
On the one hand, if the Phoenix Suns want to remain competitive, this wouldn't be a bad trade. On the other hand, if Phoenix wants to maintain flexibility heading into the future, this wouldn't be the offer they're looking for - especially considering it does lack a future first-round pick that they could include in future trades.
If the Mavs were able to pull off such an offer, it could help the team get through the first bulk of the season without Kyrie. Is this a smart move for Dallas? Who knows. However, this front office hasn't exactly been making "smart" moves of late. At the very least, I strongly expect the Mavs to express at least some interest in KD this summer.