The Phoenix Suns may already have a huge offseason problem on their hands before it has even started.
The offseason isn't even here yet, but the Phoenix Suns may already have a huge problem on their hands, one that could end up dooming their bold offseason plans. According to a recent report, the Suns have not initiated any trade talks for Kevin Durant yet. It was widely believed he was going to hit the trade market this summer, but perhaps that may have changed. If so, it would almost certainly doom the team's plans of changing the DNA of their roster.
The biggest question that needs to be answered is why the Suns have not been able to start the process of trading KD. If it's because they're playing the waiting game, that's totally fine. However, if there is a sense that KD's market isn't going to be as strong as perhaps they thought it would be that they don't see a reason why they should even start the process at all, that's a big problem.
If that is indeed the case, it could absolutely blow up Phoenix's offseason plans. For the past few months, the narrative surrounding the Suns was that big and bold changes were on the horizon. If KD is not included in that offseason math, I'm not exactly sure where those changes to the roster are going to come.
Running it back can't be an option for the Phoenix Suns
If there is any hesitance to the Suns moving forward to trade KD, you can't help but wonder what that could end up meaning for their approach with Bradley Beal. If the Suns feel they're going to have a tough time trading KD (because of a lack of trade market or for whatever other reason), they have another thing coming when they begin to explore the trade market for Beal.
Beal is on a worse contract and is not the impactful player that KD still is at this point in his career. The real hurdle for the Suns this offseason is going to revolve around trading Beal. At least that was the expectation for the team heading into this summer. If they're having second thoughts on trading KD, that's only going to complicate this team's offseason even more.
With the way the last two seasons have gone, I'm not sure how the Suns can sell this fan base on running it back again with relatively the same core. Even if the Suns are able to trade Beal, while keeping KD and Devin Booker together, there isn't much promise for this team, especially considering that a trade of Beal is likely going to be more of a salary dump move than anything.
If big changes aren't coming to the Suns this summer, who knows what lies ahead for this franchise? Running it back is not an option that many envision for Phoenix after the disappointing year they had. Nevertheless, that may be exactly what they end up doing.