The Spurs and Rockets are Kevin Durant‘s preferred trade destinations, league sources tell Sam Amick of The Athletic, who provides an overview of the status of trade talks along with Athletic writers Kelly Iko and Jon Krawczynski. Amick cautions that Durant’s desire to play in San Antonio or Houston doesn’t mean he’ll wind up in one of those cities, as there are “complicating factors” with both teams that make deals difficult.
Shams Charania of ESPN shares a similar report, but says Durant is interested in joining the Heat as well as the two Texas teams. He states that “people across the NBA” have been told that those are the three teams Durant would consider signing an extension with. He has one year left on his contract at $54.7MM.
Charania notes that once the trade is complete, Durant will become eligible on July 6 for a two-year contract extension worth up to $122MM. If he waits until six months after the trade becomes official, the extension rises to a potential $124MM over two years.
Sources tell Charania that Durant is being pursued by six to eight “seriously interested teams.” The Suns have informed those teams that they plan to make the best deal for themselves, even if Durant winds up somewhere he doesn’t want to go.
Within the Athletic’s report, Iko notes that the Spurs have a base of young talent, no current cap worries and a wealth of draft assets (13 first-round picks through 2032), putting them in position for a “timeline-altering move” to speed up the building process around Victor Wembanyama. League sources tell Iko that San Antonio remains unwilling to part with the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, which is expected to bring Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, but the Spurs would make the 14th pick available.
Echoing a report earlier today by Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, Iko states that Phoenix has been underwhelmed by offers constructed around Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Harrison Barnes. Durant’s desire to join the Spurs will factor into the equation, but Iko sounds skeptical that a deal will happen unless their offers improve.
The Rockets are in a similar situation, Iko adds, as a young team that has to decide how badly it wants to disrupt its current timeline to add an aging and expensive player, even one as productive as Durant. He notes that Houston and Phoenix have been engaged in talks regarding Durant for more than a year, but the Suns’ decision to restructure their front office, with Brian Gregory taking over as general manager, have affected those negotiations.
Sources tell Iko that originally Phoenix was determined to regain control of its first-round picks that Houston owns in 2025, 2027 and 2029, and later switched to asking for multiple young players such as Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green. Team and league sources tell Iko that Jabari Smith Jr. has recently become the focus of the Suns’ pursuit. Iko hears that Green wants to stay in Houston and atone for his poor playoff performance and that the Rockets’ front office hasn’t shown much interest in breaking up its young core in pursuit of Durant.
Krawczynski discusses the challenge of bringing Durant’s contract to Minnesota, which is currently above the second apron, just like Phoenix. Wolves sources tell him that the team won’t part with Jaden McDaniels in a Durant trade, which means Julius Randle or Rudy Gobert would have to be included to help match salaries if Minnesota can regain the ability to aggregate by dropping below the second apron. Randle has a $30.9MM player option for next season that he would have to agree to pick up before being included in a deal, while Gobert is under contract for $35MM. Krawczynski notes that either player would be a solid addition alongside Devin Booker and could help the Suns get back into the playoff race.
He adds that another salary, such as Donte DiVincenzo’s $12MM, would have to be included, and Phoenix would probably want one of Minnesota’s young players thrown in, such as Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon or Jaylen Clark.
So he doesn’t care about winning a championship?
Has he ever really cared?
I’d say when he went to GS that was directly to win.
Right but did he care then? I’m not so sure. That team just went 73-9 and was already at the top. He took the path of least resistance like he just needed to check that box and then he moved on.
Neither Houston nor San Antonio are going to give up much. He’d be a nice have, but not to gut their teams or timelines for.
Texas teams not breaking up their core young players for Durant…. If I were the Heat I would give up veteran salaries that match and some draft picks… I wouldn’t give up Ware, JOVIC, or Jaime Jaquez JR… you then have to extend him for 2 years 112M… Buyer beware!
There’s nothing saying he would demand 112 million for 2 more years. If he goes to a team he wants to play for he would lower that number for sure. He wants a ring one his own. Not like the ring he got for playing for Golden State.
What would be the difference if Durant won another ring?
So you wouldn’t give up average role players for Durant?
Spurs has the no. 2 & no. 14 pick this year which could maybe entice the suns. Add barnes, vassel, & sochan. Won’t it suffice for a 36 year old KD?
#2 isnt and won’t be on the table
#2 would be for Giannis if they go that route
Suns have no choice but send him to other team. It seems that the offers are really ugly.
From the article
The Suns have informed those teams that they plan to make the best deal for themselves, even if Durant winds up somewhere he doesn’t want to go.
As they should.
bet the suns wish they had their own picks .. the Durant trade tree has the potential to be very good for the nets .. can’t wait to see how heavily protected any picks the suns get back will be
> the Durant trade tree has the potential to be very
> good for the nets .
So far the Nets have received 9 first round picks for Durant – 4 from Phoenix and 5 more from the Knicks (for Bridges, who also came from Phoenix as part of the Durant deal). I bet they’ll get a 10th when they flip Cam Johnson (also part of the original Durant deal).
The Spurs fleeced the Kings for Fox and now think they can do the same to every team lol
Devin Vassell is not worth 1% of Kevin Durant
Reality is the Spurs won’t move their young core for Durant, nor is he worth it. Durant isn’t worth what he thinks he is and has failed miserably in his last two stops – Brooklyn and Phoenix.
One could only say he failed in Bklyn if anything less than a finals or CF would be considered a failure. Those were pretty good Bklyn teams. But eventually they were broken up.
KD is constantly averaging near 30ppg on almost 50/40/90 shooting, how has HE failed? Maybe those TEAMS have failed and sure he partially to blame, but it isnt 100% his fault. He is still an elite player, he is 50000x better than Jimmy Butler for example
We shall see ..B.wright our gm ..ain’t losing trades ..he wins em
Yup. Goes well beyond Fox. His work in the draft has been more of a mixed bag, but he’s been great as a dealmaker.
Of course, it’s one thing being able to compile assets as a rebuilding team and another to become a legitimate contender. Fox was a good start, let’s see what he can do for an encore.
Who wants to be in the Durant business. He’s in year..17? He’s been miserable the last few stops he’s been at. Why would any team give up a good package of players/picks for him. He’s an all time great player but I wouldn’t want anything to do with him.
The whole miserable narrative is silly. With the Nets he played with fat Harden and crazy Kyrie, and Marks was also foolish enough to let those clowns run the show. And with the Suns, you had a horribly constructed roster forced together by a moronic owner. It’s not at all surprising both ended in disaster knowing what we know now. At least this time around KD seems to be prioritizing stable places where he’d actually be a good fit.
Doesn’t mean those teams will be willing to meet the Suns asking price, but I’m not sure how much leverage they really have. Beyond his age, two of those teams probably won’t feel the need to gut their youth to acquire him and the third is more asset strapped. He’ll stll probably fetch a decent haul, but the price might be more manageable than one would think, especially since the Suns cannot afford to stand pat.
He was also miserable the last year+ in golden state. I’m sorry but at this point there is only one constant in his last 3 stops.
And who put Durant in those places? I’m pretty sure Durant did. So the narrative is valid.
Precisely. KD forced his way to each situation and has been miserable each time. He’s an all time great like I said but seems like a pretty unhappy dude personally.
You’re kind of making my point for me, though. Since he’s not angling to go to some terrible situation this time around the outcome could be very different, dependent on cost of acqusition and health of course.
except brooklyn was a toe away from probably going to a finals, phoenix was within a season or two from a finals run, and the golden state team he was on is arguably the best team we’ve seen ever.
I don’t think your point holds water
It seems like neither of our points hold water then lol. Sounds like it would still be worth it to acquire him so long as you would price in his age, injury history, and any grumpiness. Look what Butler did for the Warriors.
Is that coming from a Philly fan? Ahem, Paul George.
I don’t get how Paul George has anything to do with KD but ok.
Unless you’re claiming about him being miserable also and who would want paul George etc to which I would respond I wanted nothing to do with him either so, I still don’t get your point 👍
The George/Durant comparison was my point. Saying that, I appreciate a Philly fan who gets it with the PG move.
Looking through KD’s career, yes by all means he is a scorer, but has far as an all-around player no way. He wants out of OKC, goes to GS, gets a ring then says he don’t want to be there no more, wants a chance of putting his own team together in Brooklyn does not go so well wants out traded to Phoenix again does not go all that well now trying to tell the Suns where he wants to go, don’t think so, Suns for heaven sakes trade him where you can get the best deal, you owe KD nothing, he did not bring title to Phoenix.
I think he ends up in Houston.
Vassell is a bad fit with Booker, but so is Beal so why not
Vassell isn’t ball dominant. Beal is.
Vassell isn’t good at basketball and never has been. Beal has lost more steps than Vassell ever has ever had.
I would rather just have the Minnesota packages being thrown out there. Devin Vassell is paid like a starter but would be firmly planted on the bench (not even a sixth man) if he was on any of the second round playoff teams.
Like if you compare Rudy Gobert/Randle to Vassell, there isn’t a comparison. Vassell is a guy you could get in free agency, he’s not much better than Keta Bates Diop or some other wing that isn’t a great defensive player.
You haven’t watched many Vassell games, have you. His defense is outstanding (it’s his calling card) in today’s terms and can be an offensive impact when distributed the ball. Theres a reason he received the contract he did. The comparison of Gobert/Randle…completely different positions and game. Vassell is a 3 and D in the mold of Bridges, which is what I anticipate his career to be.
I watched a lot of Vassell. He will never have Bridges’ career. The seasons Bridges played in Phoenix were outstanding, he was voted 2nd for DPOY there. And he was well above average true shooter, that year he was 13th in the league and the first non-center in true shooting percentage. A year before that he was 5th in the entire league, stuff rarely seen for non-bigs who just dunk.
Mikal’s last 2 years have been the weakest since his rookie season, and yet he was a better player than Vassell was and probably ever will be.
Spurs can make this happen easier than the rest. Yes he’s old but still KD. Spurs can do this without mortgaging the future. Vessell, Sochan, Wesley pick 14 for KD. Houston have pick 10 and better young guys but won’t match that. If they do….goodluck in Houston KD, lol.
If Phoenix do that trade they will lose 50+ games easily next season, maybe even 60. With Vassell, Sochan and Wesley instead of KD they will.
Not the point. Can’t get rid of beal and KD is near 40, didn’t make the playoffs with KD.
I get that the KD deal turned out very bad for Phoenix. KD receives a lot of love on the media for playing well; “Is Durant in top 5 in MVP voting?” was a typical topic in dumb ESPN shows halfway through this season. But in Arizona, where it matters, folks are actually very unhappy, and rightfully.
But anyway, the team needs to be pragmatic about it. For them it might be better to give him another 2 years of contract and just see him play basketball for 3 more years than to trade for a bunch of questionable players from SA and a pick. And keep losing even more than before while watching Houston and Washington select players with their picks.
Phoenix should look for a deal with Houston, not SA. But Houston doesn’t have to do business with Phoenix, ofc :)
How productive is Durant really? Just off observation alone in 2024-25 I have only seen a very good spot shooter that is a liability on defense, rebounding, and everything else. He looks nothing like prime Durant.
Certainly a good player. But not a $50M player. I don’t think I’d want him for more than $25M.
That’s just my observations though.
Dubs. Go all in on the geezer thing
I wonder if the spurs could be going real big and try to acquire both Durant and Giannis. Fox,Durant,Giannis,Wemby they probably dont need much except some 3 and D guys after something like this.
Maybe they’ll add D. Mitchell and C. Cunningham, too!
You act like they dont have the assets to pull this off. I’m pretty sure they have more than enough and 48 million in cap space too without including outgoing players in trades. By the time you need to reup Wemby Durant will be gone.
Vessel, barnes, and johnson is another 70 million in cap space they can use in trades
And all of those players are bad. KCP had a bad year and it just took four firsts and a swap to exchange him for Desmond Bane.
Those guys have had bad careers, outside of Barnes who has rarely seen success outside of GSW during his rookie contract
These reports are hilarious. Obviously it’s gonna be Houston/SA since they’re the only ones that can build a package that makes sense. I don’t think folks yet understand how much the apron stuff really really limits trades.
As a Rockets Fan HECK NO to KD. Even if for junk players like Landale, Tate, and A pick or two. Durant can go play with a washed up team if wants. Raptors or Wizards. Heat he can go play with. Doubt a championship with them. Rockets after getting where did last season will go nowhere with KD. So ROCKETS need to say NO
Yes. They same is valid for the Spurs. Durant would hurt more then he would help. If he would be willing to be a senior mentor to young ones. But I don’t see that in him.
If I was the Spurs, I would be talking to the Celtics about Jaylen Brown. He is perfect to put next to Wemby, he is a vet, has a ring and an Finals MVP and their games work well together. Spurs have what Boston would want. #2 pick with a pretty solid shot at a starter in Harper, players the Celtics might covet like Vasell, Sochran, Castle and Johnson, salary cap matching players like Barnes and they have most if not all of their picks. Plus Boston would be sending a guy they love and respect to a top organization with a bright future. I know Pop would jump on getting Jaylen Brown, but he is retired.
Durant is old, sorry, I know the guy is a HOF, but Jaylen is still in his prime and the veteran leader the Spurs need. Jaylen is accountable and would instantly be the leader that this young team wants. I am a Celtic fan, and I love JB and his game, but if that type of return, a showcase showdown of #2 2025 pick, picks, Castle or Vassell came back, I would seriously consider it.
I would say the same about Houston, but its not as easy bc I know Boston would not want Sengun back bc he does not fit the current jack up 3s till your arms hurt offense, Boston uses.
Sabonis is on my wish list ……