Kawhi Leonard trade rumors: 7 potential destinations for Spurs star

7. Phoenix Suns

We start with a couple of obvious caveats: The Phoenix Suns are highly, highly unlikely to give up assets for a player who clearly wants to be in L.A. and would be able to leave for nothing in 2019.

Devin Booker and Josh Jackson are nice pieces to build around, but even adding Kawhi to that duo wouldn’t guarantee a playoff spot, let alone the type of contending situation it’d take to get Leonard to sign an extension.

The Arizona Republic‘s Scott Bordow — and pretty much anyone familiar with the Suns’ current outlook — knows there’s no chance of this happening.

However, if by some miracle general manager Ryan McDonough got word that Kawhi would be open to playing with Booker for the foreseeable future, and if Gregg Popovich suddenly ignored his disdain for trading star players to former Western Conference rivals, and if the basketball gods stopped hating Phoenix for five seconds, the Suns could put together quite a Godfather offer.

One possible deal would revolve around Tyson Chandler for salary cap filler (and cap relief next summer), two young players with upside in Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender, and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.

The 35-year-old Chandler fits in the same boat as Pau Gasol as being over-the-hill, but still useful within a successful system. His $13.6 million contract would come off the books next summer as well.

Chriss and Bender haven’t proven much through their first two years in the league, but their opportunities have been limited by injuries, organizational dysfunction and being surrounded by poor talent. Pop could get the best out of these two 20-year-olds. Then, there’s the No. 1 overall pick, which can either be Deandre Ayton to be mentored by Chandler and Gasol, or Luka Doncic. The Spurs aren’t getting a blue chip asset quite like that anywhere else.

If giving up both Chriss and Bender is too much for the Suns, they could substitute in Troy Daniels to help spread the floor for San Antonio, and maybe even throw in that 2019 Milwaukee Bucks pick (protected 1-3 and 17-30) to make up for it.

If that’s not getting it done for either side, an even bigger blockbuster could involve Josh Jackson and Dejounte Murray to try and balance things out:

Chriss could be subbed in for Bender if that’s who the Spurs prefer, but the big draw here is San Antonio gets a potential wing phenom in Jackson, who was terrific in the second half of his rookie season after an abysmal first half.

Because the Suns would be giving up both Jackson and the No. 1 overall pick, they’d get Dejounte Murray, a promising 21-year-old who looks like a franchise point guard and just earned All-Defensive Second Team honors. Between him and Kawhi, the Suns would be able to cover for Devin Booker’s defensive flaws.

However, there’s no way this ever happens without assurances Leonard would re-sign next summer, and trading Jackson, the No. 1 pick and one of Bender/Chriss might be too much to stomach even with the impossible-to-secure guarantee Kawhi wouldn’t leave in free agency.

It’s a nice thought, and the Suns could put together an offer that could rival almost any other NBA team, but it’s never going to happen.