Blockbuster Durant to Suns deal tops busy NBA trade deadline

WASHINGTON: Kevin Durant’s blockbuster move from Brooklyn to Phoenix turned the Suns into a major title contender and sparked a flurry of NBA trade deadline deals Thursday by roster-boosting rivals.

The 34-year-old superstar joined Suns All-Star guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker plus Bahamian center Deandre Ayton, the top pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, to create what might be the NBA’s most powerful lineup.

Phoenix sent four first-round NBA Draft picks, swingman Mikal Bridges, forward Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder and a 2028 pick swap to the Nets in exchange for Durant and forward T.J. Warren.

Crowder, who has sat out the 2022-23 season so far, didn’t stay with the Nets long, reportedly being traded Thursday to the Milwaukee Bucks for five second-round NBA Draft picks.

The Suns confirmed their acquisition of Durant, first reported Wednesday night, with a tweet as multiple clubs posted photos and statements on social media welcoming their new players and bidding farewell tho those that had been traded.

There were plenty of moves as the balance of power in the Western Conference was shaken up by Durant’s arrival and only two clubs, Chicago and Cleveland, chose not to make a deadline move.

The Durant move wrote an epitaph to the “Big Three” era of the Nets, who sent James Harden to Philadelphia a year ago and traded star guard Kyrie Irving to Dallas earlier this week.

The trio managed to play only 16 games together and win one playoff series after being seen as a title contender, instead finishing as one of the epic flops in NBA history.

The Los Angeles Lakers made multiple moves in hopes of reviving a woeful season by surrounding NBA all-time scoring leader LeBron James and star big man Anthony Davis with improved