The Phoenix Suns are trying to get out of the Kevin Durant business this offseason, and naturally there are plenty of teams that would like to get their hands on the former league MVP. The Los Angeles Clippers are one team that can benefit greatly from Durant's skillset.

While Durant has said that he wants to commit to either the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets or San Antonio Spurs, the Suns still owe it to themselves to pursue the best possible return for him. The Clippers have valuable players and assets that could go back to Phoenix in a Durant trade, including starting center Ivica Zubac.

Unfortunately for the Suns, the Clippers aren't going to want to let go of their emerging big man, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.

“We've been consistently told LA has no desire to part with Ivica Zubac … as much as Phoenix surely covets the consistently improving center,” Fischer wrote. “The Clippers, however, do hold two future first-round picks and some available swap rights to sweeten a potential Durant offer that would almost certainly require the inclusion of Norman Powell, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Derrick Jones Jr.”

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The Clippers have plenty of good reasons for wanting to hold onto Zubac. He has developed from a role player into a two-way force, dominating games on the glass as well as on the defensive end. Offensively, he has great touch around the rim and has become a strong play-finisher around the basket, so he would be an immediate impact player on both ends of the floor.

Not putting Zubac in a trade will make it very difficult for the Clippers to pull off a Durant trade, but Los Angeles will feel that it is close to competing in the Western Conference either way.

Despite losing in seven games in the first round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets this season, the Clippers were playing some of the best basketball in the NBA during the back half of the season this year. If they can bring back a majority of that core into the 2025-26 season, Tyronn Lue and company will have confidence that they can beat just about anyone.