What If Suns' Kevin Durant Returned to Thunder?

Kevin Durant could be traded by the Phoenix Suns. Could a return to the Oklahoma City Thunder come?

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Isaiah Joe moves past Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant isn't getting any younger, but he may be reminiscing about what could have been.

Early in his career, Durant brought the Oklahoma City Thunder to life as the face of the franchise when the team moved to the city in 2008. The team was young and inexperienced, but Durant helped give them an identity. Four years later, they were in the NBA Finals. Four years after that, despite several successful playoff runs, he was gone, unable to get the team back to the biggest stage.

Now, the Thunder are the best team in the NBA again with a ceiling higher than when Durant played there originally. Surely at one point in this tough, tumultuous season with the Suns, Durant may have pondered what life would be like in his former home.

Bleacher Report Dan Favale named the Thunder as a potential destination for a Durant trade this offseason.

"On the one hand, reunions are cool! On the other hand, the Oklahoma City Thunder are not an organization known to act brashly. Nor is it one that necessarily needs KD. Oklahoma City may win the whole damn thing this year," Favale writes.

"Any interest in Durant is contingent upon a playoff run short-circuited by the offense. That is not as likely to happen as last year if you're paying attention. It is also not outside the realm of possibility.

"Durant is among the most plug-and-play superstars in league history. The Thunder don't have to worry about his arrival derailing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren. They also have the draft-pick stash and room beneath the luxury tax to make the math work without obliterating too much of the rotation.

"Building a package around Isaiah Hartenstien and Isaiah Joe works on its own. Oklahoma City can sub in Aaron Wiggins for Joe and add another smaller salary, too. Attaching draft equity to the latter package seems like it'll be more up the Suns' alley.

"Either way, this can be a two- or three-for-one structure. That's eminently doable over the offseason. If not for the sheer "Will they even look at KD?" of it all, the Thunder would rank much higher."

Trading Hartenstein makes sense for the Thunder since they already have a big man in Holmgren, and it would help match salaries to bring Durant into the building.

The Thunder also have a boatload of draft picks to help the Suns facilitate a deal. If OKC wanted to make a trade, they could be able to make Phoenix an offer they cannot refuse.