It’s been a couple of days since the Phoenix Suns hired Mike Budenholzer as their head coach, but more trouble might be knocking on their door soon. After putting their everything in this season, in hopes of winning a championship, the Suns were left with disappointment at the end. The team couldn’t manage to win a single game in the postseason, as they got swept by the Timberwolves in round one.
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Stephen A. Smith recently revealed on First Take that some internal issues were going on between the organization’s head coach and their star player, Kevin Durant.
Stephen A. said, “Kevin Durant in Phoenix is a problem…They say Kevin Durant is never happy. They say that he went more than a month without even talking to the head coach. They say that he doesn’t look happy there.”
This is not the first time that KD has had a problem like that with an organization. It almost seems like a pattern with him which ultimately makes him jump from one team to another.
.@stephenasmith says it's time to "disband" the Suns' big three 😳
"They're not a big three. They're a big three in money. They're a big three in name. But they ain't a big three in level of production." pic.twitter.com/90mqtmYzQJ
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 13, 2024
Smith further stated that these events with the Suns are similar to what happened with KD and the Warriors. After months of brewing tension and distancing himself from the squad, he left the Dubs Nation. However, SAS made it clear that the blame for all the issues within the Suns camp can’t be put on KD alone. But now it might be time to break the team.
He believes that they need to get rid of the trio of KD, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker because they’re not as effective as expected. Smith pretty much declared them to be a bust.
He said, “They’re not a big three. They’re a big three in money. They’re a big three in name. But they ain’t a big three in level of production.” Stephen A. clarified his take by stating that these are not speculations about the Suns as he has dependable inside information on the things going on behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, the ESPN analyst is not the only member in the media who is making these claims.
Jeff Teague predicts Kevin Durant’s next move
It seems like KD and the Suns are running on fumes at the moment. Based on the comments from the experts, Durant might be looking to change yet another team.
According to Jeff Teague, this time KD might do something that he hasn’t done yet in his career, go back to a team he parted ways with years ago. On a recent episode of Club 520 podcast, Teague and his panel analyzed Durant’s chances of moving back to the OKC.
According to Spotrac, the Oklahoma franchise has $22 million in cap space and 11 first round picks in the next four drafts. With this power, they can leverage the Suns into trading KD to the place where he started his NBA journey.
Teague said, “[The Thunder] could get [Kevin Durant] if they wanted to… That’d be hard bro… KD at the 4, let Jalen Williams go to the 3, Lou Dort, Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander].” While it’s still early to call it a fix, but looking at the circumstances, it’s highly possible that we’ll see KD repping the OKC.
