The Warriors and Suns began “secretly” talking about the possibility of a Kevin Durant trade early last week, according to Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, who say that the star forward and his longtime manager and agent Rich Kleiman didn’t learn about those discussions until the two teams played one another last Friday.
By Saturday, the two teams were far enough along in negotiations that Durant and Stephen Curry touched base to talk about the idea. Shelburne and Windhorst hear from sources that Durant told Curry a reunion with the Warriors “didn’t feel right” and that this “wasn’t the time” for them to team up again.
While the Warriors were discouraged by Durant’s stance, they didn’t give up on making a deal at that point, hoping that Durant might change his tune once he learned how far down the road Phoenix had gotten in those discussions without informing him, per ESPN.
The Suns have internally conceded that it was a mistake not to loop Durant into the process earlier, Shelburne and Windhorst say. The former MVP has been described as “blindsided” by being so heavily involved in trade rumors this week after having expressed a desire to stay in Phoenix.
“We should’ve gone through (Kleiman),” a team source told ESPN.
As Shams Charania reported earlier today, the Warriors, Suns, and Heat discussed a potential multi-team trade that would’ve sent both Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga to Phoenix, with Durant going to Golden State. Shelburne and Windhorst provide more details on those conversations, reporting that the Wizards were involved as well, as we speculated on Wednesday.
The four teams were negotiating a trade that would have looked like this, according to ESPN:
- Durant to Golden State.
- Butler, Kuminga, Jonas Valanciunas, two first-round picks (from the Warriors), two second-round picks (one each from Miami and Golden State), and pick swaps to Phoenix.
- Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Kyle Anderson, and the Cavaliers’ 2025 first-round pick (via Phoenix) to Miami.
There are some missing details there — among them, Jusuf Nurkic would’ve been involved and would’ve gone to the Wizards, who presumably would’ve sought at least a first-rounder from the Suns as a sweetener to take on that contract.
While it sounds like there was some momentum in those negotiations, the Heat ultimately weren’t sold on the deal. They sought the Warriors’ 2025 first-round pick rather than Cleveland’s, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say that Golden State also had some reservations about the Suns’ steep asking price for Durant.
With Durant standing firm on his stance that he had no desire to go to Golden State, the talks fell apart.
After those discussions ended, there was a window for the Heat to potentially acquire Durant in a trade that would send Butler to Phoenix. Durant would have been more open to playing in Miami than Golden State, sources tell ESPN, and the Suns and Heat traded “visions” of what a deal might look like, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
However, the Suns were seeking a massive haul for Durant that included “a combination of talented young players and draft picks,” Jackson writes. According to both ESPN and the Herald, the Heat considered the price too steep and backed out, pivoting to a Butler deal with the Warriors that cut out Phoenix altogether.
The Suns were “deflated” by the outcome, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say that there were several times during the weeks leading up to Thursday’s deadline that Phoenix thought there might be a path to a Butler deal involving Bradley Beal.
However, sources tell ESPN that the Hawks and Wizards were believed to be the only teams considering taking on Beal, and it’s unclear whether he would’ve waived his no-trade clause for either team. The Suns reportedly never got close enough to a deal to approach Beal about it, eventually pivoting to exploring a Durant scenario without first informing the star forward.
As Windhorst noted on the latest Hoop Collective podcast, we’ll find out this coming summer whether those Suns trade talks involving Durant will sour him on the idea of remaining in Phoenix beyond this season.
“Durant told Curry a reunion with the Warriors “didn’t feel right” and that this “wasn’t the time” for them to team up again.”
Yup, the “time” will be when they get rid of Kerr, until then, no KD.
Fire Steve Kerr = KD will be back asap.
And that accomplishes what? An 8 seed in exchange for firing one of the best coaches in history. Genius
1x coach of the year = “best coaches in history” = you dont know ball or are coping
watch any warriors game, these rotations are absurdly idiotic, you cant argue the results are awful too
Steve Kerr hasn’t even gotten Coach of the Year votes since 2017. If you think in 2025 he isn’t completely washed, low energy, out of ideas aside from playing 6’4″ or shorter guys at the 1-2-3-4 spots in his idiotic small ball rotations that don’t work. No other coach in recent history has been allowed to be this bad for this long with a team that is built to contend that everyone agrees is a contender in the preseason. It’s him. It’s not any player.
@Davey
you mean get rid of Draymond. He was always the problem.
Warriors owners ego has gotten so big. He wants to win so badly he would give away the warriors future for a slight chance of a championship. For some reason he worships Durant. Durant would only make the warriors chance at the 6th seed but without a bench they would struggle. That was one terrible trade offer for Durant. The Suns would have made out like bandits in that trade.
Fair trade formula
Durant = Butler + Kuminga
No pick at all
Golden State, Brooklyn, now Phoenix. When you can’t make it work wherever you go, maybe you are the problem. KD is a truly great player, a HOFer, but it seems like he doesn’t know how to coexist in a team dynamic. His only rings are going to be with the two he earned with the dubs, and that’s too bad because he could have had more. Blame Dray and Kerr, blame Kyrie and Nash, blame whoever you can in PHX but KD is the common denominator in all of these situations.
But he did make it work at GSW? He won 2 titles and made 3 finals in 3 years. He didn’t stay with GSW because he thinks Kerr is a bad coach, because he is.
@Davey
that’s you using your own boss. clearly things went south when Drsy called him a beach and said they didn’t need him. Not sure why anyone would want to back to that. it’s obvious
@JBS
You fail to read the situation. KD didn’t tell them to lock so much of the cap space into their 3rd option and it’s not his place to make it all work. You can win with just a big 3. You need a bench and the ability to keep the other team from scoring. The Suns prefer to keep KD and move Beal. The whole idea of acquiring Butler was to match him with KD and Booker. Once getting rid of Beal was an impossibility they thought about moving KD and enigma knowing he was their best asset. Trading KD wasn’t their desire at first, and I don’t think it’s fair to blame him.
Durant trade talk = yawn. Teams thinking they will somehow get a different result than the Nets or Suns