{"id":57868,"date":"2022-08-27T08:44:58","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T08:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/monty-williams-says-he-was-blown-away-by-suns-in-kevin-durant-trade-talks\/"},"modified":"2022-08-27T08:44:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T08:44:58","slug":"monty-williams-says-he-was-blown-away-by-suns-in-kevin-durant-trade-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/monty-williams-says-he-was-blown-away-by-suns-in-kevin-durant-trade-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Monty Williams says he was &#8216;blown away&#8217; by Suns in Kevin Durant trade talks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Monty Williams doesn&#8217;t like to address distractions from the media about the Suns unless the rumors have passed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The reigning NBA Coach of the Year explained his unfazed reaction to his team&#8217;s involvement in the two-month Kevin Durant trade talks during a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SiriusXMNBA\/status\/1563194566580264960\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|e|inline click|${u}\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">SiriusXM Radio interview<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The interview came three days after the Brooklyn Nets and their 12-time All-Star reconciled following his trade request on June 30 at the start of free agency.  Durant listed the Suns and Miami Heat as his preferred trade destinations. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img gnt_em_img__inset\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cI never talked to any of our guys about that,\u201d Williams said.  \u201cOne, people don&#8217;t understand how hard trades are to pull off.  When I first heard about the Kevin Durant stuff, I was kind of blown away by it just because, you know, we&#8217;ve been so blessed here to have guys want to come.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;At the same time, &#8216;At the expense of what?&#8217;  was my thinking. And I like our team. I love our guys. But I wasn&#8217;t going to have conversations that didn&#8217;t need to be had.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Phoenix, who had the league&#8217;s best regular season record and its franchise-best 64 wins last season, and an NBA finals appearance the year prior, would have essentially had to give up many of the core players who helped make the Suns into title contenders just to acquire Durant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Brooklyn didn&#8217;t find a trade suit after they demanded an All-Star caliber player, solid role players and first-round draft picks in exchange for Durant.  In August 2021, he signed a four-year extension for $198 million, which kicks in this upcoming season. <\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">All-star Devin Booker couldn&#8217;t be part of a proposed trade talks from Phoenix because he&#8217;s entering the penultimate year of his five-year rookie max deal.  The Suns in early July also signed him to a 4-year, $224 million supermax extension.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">There&#8217;s a stipulation in the NBA and the league&#8217;s Players Association&#8217;s collective bargaining agreement that a player on a rookie max deal can&#8217;t be traded to a team that already has one player who was traded from a former team that signed them to a rookie max deal .<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_anc\" id=\"gnt_atomsnc\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadAnc\" aria-label=\"Newsletter signup form\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">That applies to Brooklyn&#8217;s Ben Simmons, who was traded from the Philadelphia 76ers in February, and is on a rookie max deal he signed with his former team in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Suns&#8217; Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Mikal Bridges, Sixth Man of the Year finalist Cam Johnson, their starting center Deandre Ayton and veteran starting power forward Jae Crowder were among names speculated as part of the talks between Brooklyn and Phoenix. <\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I think our guys are mature enough to understand that part of our business,&#8221; Williams added.  &#8220;I didn&#8217;t want to have conversations about stuff that didn&#8217;t need to be brought up. Part of it is because I&#8217;ve been in the business so long. It&#8217;s just hard to pull trades off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">On Monday, Bridges seemingly tweeted his glib hot take about himself and other players included in the Durant rumors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I&#8217;m just sittin here watching just like y&#8217;all lol,&#8221; Bridges said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_tw\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadTwitter\" data-v-id=\"1561812776204439552\" aria-label=\"Twitter Embed\" style=\"min-height:225px\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Nets reportedly didn&#8217;t want Ayton, who was a restricted free agent coming off his rookie deal earlier this summer, in a sign-and-trade because he would&#8217;ve cost too much against their salary cap.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">There were more rumors about the Suns looking for a possible three- or four-team deal to ship Ayton, who was a restricted free agent, off to another team to help facilitate a deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Phoenix matched the Indiana Pacers&#8217; four-year, $133 million max offer for Ayton on July 15. Booker and Ayton&#8217;s deals basically took the Suns out of the running for a trade because of their luxury tax costs they&#8217;ll incur for this upcoming year, which includes their nine other guaranteed contracts to be paid.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_cp\" aria-label=\"Top Headlines from Sports\" data-c-cta=\"DIG DEEPER\">\n<div class=\"gnt_em_cp_cw\"><img class=\"gnt_em_cp_cw_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/27\/PPHX\/7deeafbe-7fbf-422f-bea4-144ae095c1b3-uscp-7mhfkm4me4w19dymz1rk2_original.jpg?ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/27\/PPHX\/7deeafbe-7fbf-422f-bea4-144ae095c1b3-uscp-7mhfkm4me4w19dymz1rk2_original.jpg?crop=4979,3735,x318,y0&amp;width=516&amp;height=386&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><em>Have tips for us?  Reach the reporter at dana.scott@azcentral.com or at 480-486-4721.  Follow his Twitter <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iam_DanaScott\" data-t-l=\":b|e|inline click|${u}\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" target=\"_blank\">@iam_DanaScott<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><em><strong>Support local journalism.<\/strong> Start your online subscription today.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monty Williams doesn&#8217;t like to address distractions from the media about the Suns unless the rumors have passed. The reigning NBA Coach of the Year explained his unfazed reaction to his team&#8217;s involvement in the two-month Kevin Durant trade talks during a SiriusXM Radio interview on Thursday. The interview came three days after the Brooklyn &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/monty-williams-says-he-was-blown-away-by-suns-in-kevin-durant-trade-talks\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Monty Williams says he was &#8216;blown away&#8217; by Suns in Kevin Durant trade talks<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1850,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/suns-appear-to-be-durant-trade-frontrunners-in-miami-durant-only-wants-to-play-with-full-roster\/","url_meta":{"origin":57868,"position":0},"title":"Suns appear to be Durant trade frontrunners;  In Miami, Durant only wants to play with full roster","date":"July 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On the white-knuckle ride that is the NBA offseason, what looks like a sure thing one day is being ridiculed and thrown overboard the next. Things change fast around the NBA in July.Nobody knows that better than the Brooklyn Nets, who are now trying to find a new home for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17681,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/western-notes-suns-ayton-durant-mcgee-kings\/","url_meta":{"origin":57868,"position":1},"title":"Western Notes: Suns, Ayton, Durant, McGee, Kings","date":"July 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"the suns matched the Pacers' four-year, $133MM offer sheet to keep Deandre Ayton in Phoenix, but some mending is still needed between the two sides, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski relayed (video link). Wojnarowski specifically mentioned coach Monty Williams and star guard Chris Paul, two key pieces of the Suns' team. Phoenix\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11885,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/offseason-has-become-kevin-durant-or-bust-for-phoenix-suns\/","url_meta":{"origin":57868,"position":2},"title":"Offseason has become Kevin Durant or bust for Phoenix Suns","date":"July 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After two failed swings at an NBA championship, there is a distinct fear on Planet Orange: The Suns will be left holding the bag. The one they should've given to Deandre Ayton a long time ago. Strike three. We're out. If it feels like our basketball future is hanging in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21353,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jj-watt-offers-to-pay-for-funeral-so-fan-can-keep-his-jersey-shoes-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":57868,"position":3},"title":"JJ Watt offers to pay for funeral so fan can keep his jersey, shoes","date":"July 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"An NFL fan took to Twitter to sell some JJ Watt merchandise only to be answered by the Arizona Cardinals player himself. According to the tweet, Jennifer Simpson was selling a pair of Watt shoes and a jersey to raise money for her grandfather's funeral. She tagged Watt's Twitter account\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/07\/16\/PPHX\/c586c073-6ce0-41c4-87af-c6a05014bd1a-uscp-7lw705zhd1iod4al1rk2_original.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1536,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/why-kevin-durant-has-sights-set-on-phoenix-latest-on-damian-lillard-kings-and-warriors\/","url_meta":{"origin":57868,"position":4},"title":"Why Kevin Durant has sights set on Phoenix;  latest on Damian Lillard, Kings and Warriors","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A few thoughts here as Day 2 of NBA free agency unfolds\u2026 Kevin Durant sweepstakes, Day II All eyes are on Phoenix when it comes to Durant, the Nets star who is believed to be targeting the Suns as his preferred next destination. Yet while I wrote at length on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23501,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/suns-coach-monty-williams-reportedly-agrees-to-long-term-contract-extension\/","url_meta":{"origin":57868,"position":5},"title":"Suns coach Monty Williams reportedly agrees to long-term contract extension","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Phoenix Suns locked down their Coach of the Year.Monty Williams reportedly agreed to a long-term contract extension to remain with the team, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but Williams had just two years left on his initial contract before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/16\/PPHX\/d33967d9-8c85-4267-ac62-da4efec95ff6-_RS24772A.JPG?width=300&height=389&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}