Suns GM James Jones addresses Kevin Durant trade negotiations, Bradley Beal No-Trade Clause

Phoenix Suns General Manager James Jones called Kevin Durant “A Pro” in addressing reports, the team entertained calls about the 15-time all-star before Thursday’s NBA trading period.

“Kevin has been around that noise all his career,” Jones said before Friday’s match against Utah at the Footprint Center.

“He’s a professional. He is the best at it. It gets noisy when you don’t win. The simple fact is that we haven’t won enough and if we don’t win enough, the story will appear, but we’re talking about basketball and he has always shown and will continue to show and I think this team will continue to show that despite things outside our walls, we focus on the current task and focus on ball. “

Suns (25-25) is 10^Th In the West. Local media was informed of a press conference 17.45 in Jones 90 minutes before.

Durant did not talk to the media before the game when he and Bradley Beal were excluded for Friday’s game due to injury. Durant missed another straight game with a left ankle sprain, while Beal was sidelined with the left large toe tenderness. Injured players don’t have to ask questions.

Jones refused to tackle the reported trade negotiations between the Golden State Warriors and Suns about Durant, which ESPN reported was “blindsid” by seeing his name in the reports.

“It has been my many years of policy not to talk about rumors, speculation,” Jones said. “What we do internally, we hold internally. It always gets noisy when you don’t win. We’re not winning. So we just stay over the noise. “

ESPN reported that Durant would not return to Golden State, where he won two NBA titles and back-to-back finals MVPs, but was open to playing in Miami and led to the idea of ​​just moving him to Miami For Butler instead of the initial plan was to pair these two together with Devin Booker.

The Heat Star tip ended up in the Golden State in a multi-team trade, leaving Suns without their main goal of entering the trading deadline and their best player felt a certain way.

“It’s ongoing dialogue with the team, but when you come to the trade deadline, every team has these moments of frustration, these moments of uncertainty,” Jones said when asked if Suns needs to have a conversation with Durant to smooth the things.

“You talk about it early in the season and go into the forecast. You talk about it going into the trade deadline. You talk about it going into the playoffs. It’s an ongoing conversation. It’s not just something you respond to this type of pivotal moments. It is a daily conversation about how you continue to remain focused on the current task that plays basketball at a high level and winning basketball game. “

Durant had a chance to sign a one-year expansion for $ 59.5 million that went into the 2024-25 season, but did not choose to wait until this summer, where he can sign a two-year expansion for $ 123 , 8 million.

Suns started 8-1, but they’ve been under .500 since. And now Durant has allegedly questioned that his name was in trade negotiations.

“I would also be frustrated if we didn’t win, and much of the blame was much of the noise around me,” Jones said. “I know Kevin understands it. He is human like everyone else, but he is a hooper and he is pro and he has been all over his career. He knows where we stand. He is important to us. He is one of our leaders. He is our all-star and we need him to continue to be who he is and who he has always been and he will help us turn it around. ”

Durant had talked about someone being a fair game to be traded in response to Dalla’s Mavericks dealing with Luka Doncic to Los Angeles Lakers in a deal for Anthony Davis last weekend.

“If he can be traded, someone is ready to grab,” Durant said of Doncic after Suns lost Saturday night in Portland.

Durant also said the move could also lead to teams trying some with that magnitude.

“Certainly,” Durant said. “You start to see such things as organization, you might have a little more courage to do some things. You see another team act away someone like that. This must be the biggest trade I’ve seen since I’ve been in the league, or since I’ve seen the sport. This is crazy. So yes, every other team may have confidence and say (explicitly) what I will exchange a few of my top players if this is not working. I’m still shocked. “

Days later, Durant found his name in trade negotiations tied to Butler, the guy Phoenix targeted.

While Jones would not give details of Phoenix’s trade interviews with teams, he said Suns never spoke to Bradley Beal about his clause without trade.

Suns needed Beal to remove it to open the door to Land Butler in what would have been at least one three-team trade.

“We had no discussions with Brad about the clause without trade,” Jones said. “That’s one thing I can say for sure because it’s been a big topic of discussion.”

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein from Priority Sports and Entertainment, is the father of Sun’s CEO Josh Bartelstein. Beal is in his second season with Suns.

Do you have opinions about the current sunshine? Well Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, on @Duanerankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: James Jones addresses Kevin Durant-Handel’s negotiations, Beal No-Trade-Clause