Poll: Durant to Suns? Who cares!

The Phoenix Suns are Arizona’s original professional sports franchise, having graced the hardwood in the Valley since 1968. They also are one of sports’ most futile franchises, going without an NBA title in their 54-year history.

But the team has taken a turn for the better over the past two years, reaching the NBA Finals in the 2020-21 season and posting the league’s best regular season record this past season with a 64-18 mark, the best in franchise history.

Speculation lately has had the team potentially trading for Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant. While that speculation has cooled with the Suns re-signing free-agent center Deandre Ayton, a trade could still happen.

We took our readers’ temperature on this issue with our informal poll question: “Do you want the Suns to trade for Kevin Durant?”

Based on the votes of our 230 respondents, the Suns’ disappointing early exit from this year’s playoffs may have cooled interest in the team, with 99 votes (43% of the total) selecting “I don’t care.”

Of those who did care, 59 respondents (25%) favored the trade, opting for “Yes, without giving up too many players or picks in return.

The response, “No, the lineup needs to change, but KD is not the answer,” garnered 34 votes (15%) while there were 25 votes (11%) for “Yes, whatever it takes!”

Standing pat was the least popular response, with “No, I like the team as it is” receiving just 13 votes (6%).

The Suns’ playoff run ended with a disastrous 123-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Phoenix, a game the Suns trailed by more than 40 points at one time.