Phoenix Suns GM focuses on Kevin Durant Trade Rumors

Phoenix – The NBA -Handelsdeadline clearly did not go the way the Phoenix Suns wanted.

Although he was involved in trade rumors about Jimmy Butler for months, Phoenix missed him when Butler was eventually traded on the Golden State Warriors.

However, the most harmful part of the deadline for the Suns was their relationship with Kevin Durant, their only all-star this season.

Durant has stated several times how much he loves Phoenix, but according to several reports, the Suns had a trading package ready to go that would send him to the Warriors before Durant refused to return to Golden State.

Suns General Manager and President of Basketball Activities James Jones spoke to the media before Phoenix’s matchup against the Utah Jazz to talk about the deadline and commented on Durant’s situation.

“It is my long -standing policy that does not talk about rumors, speculation … what we do internally, we keep internally. And it always gets noisy if you don’t win, “Jones said.

Durant is said to be “blinded” by the rumors according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Jones spoke about how durant deals with the sound that improves.

“Kevin has been his entire career around the noise,” said Jones. “He is a professional. He is the best at it. As I said, it will be noisy if you don’t win. And the simple fact is that we have not won enough, and if we don’t win enough, the storylines will appear.

“But when we talk about basketball, (that of durant) are always shown, and he will continue to show, and I think this team will continue to show that despite things outside our walls, we will concentrate on the task that is needed and we will concentrate on the ball.

Jones later sympathized with the feelings of Durant.

“I would also be frustrated if we didn’t win and much of the fault, a lot of noise around me is,” said Jones. “I know Kevin understands that, he is human. He is just like everyone else. But he is a Hooper, he is a professional and he has been his entire career above it.

“(Durant) Know where we are. He is crucial for us. He is one of our leaders. He is our All Star, and we need him to stay who we are and who he has always been and he will be us help.

Durant is out for tonight’s match against Utah with a left single -display, so it is unclear when he will give his thoughts about the situation to the media.