The NBA trade deadline hits at 3 pm Eastern Standard Time in Thursday, and it appears that future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant, a 14-time All-Star who ranks eighth all-time in points scored â second among active players only to Lebron James â will remain a member of the Phoenix Suns. At least for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season.
But the dream is still alive. In fact, it may be closer than ever. The dream, that is, held by 14-year veteran and also future Hall of Famer Kyrie Irving, a dream that Irving says he has held since his brief days with the Boston Celtics.
Irving, now a member of the Dallas Mavericks, told The Athletic this week that in 2018, as he was closing out his first of only two seasons in Boston, he had “discussions with Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant” about bringing both superstars to Boston to form a “Big Three.”
Kyrie’s Dream May Still Become Reality
But that dream now may be closer than ever to happening, after it came close to becoming reality seven years ago. Irving was traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Celtics shortly before the 2017-2018 season got underway. The previous year Durant was deciding where to sign as a free agent after playing the first nine years of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder (actually, in his rookie season when Durant won Rookie of the Year, the team was still the Seattle Supersonics).
The Celtics made an all-out effort to sell Durant on coming to Boston. Instead, he chose to sign with the Golden State Warriors where he won the only two NBA championships of his 17-year career.
And then, in 2019, the New Orleans Pelicans were making their best effort to rid themselves of Davis and his contract. The Celtics were named as a top trade destination for Davis, and Boston’s then-president of basketball operations Danny Ainge believed he could persuade Davis to sign a long-term contract extension with the Celtics.
That didn’t happen either. Davis was shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers â where he won a championship in the COVID “bubble” season of 2020.
Irving, for his part, left the Celtics as a free agent after the 2019 season. He finally united with Durant on the Brooklyn Nets, but Davis was firmly ensconced with the Lakers, meaning Irving’s “Big Three” dream never happened in Brooklyn either.
Two of ‘Big Three’ Now Thrown Together in Dallas
Once again, in 2025, Irving has two-thirds of his dream in place. Late in the evening of February 1, the Lakers and Mavericks suddenly, in one of the most shocking trades in NBA history, swapped Davis for 25-year-old Slovenian superstar Luka DonÄiÄ.
As the NBA’s 2025 trade deadline rapidly approached, Durant became once again the subject of intense trade rumors. The Golden State Warriors reportedly tried to acquire him, but for reasons of his own, Durant made it clear that he did not want to return to the team that brought him his only rings.
Dallas, on the other hand, has been heavily invested in an attempt to acquire Durant and have targeted him for another blockbuster trade. According to a report by The Athletic, “league sources say the Dallas Mavericks, fresh off their Luka DonÄiÄ-for-Anthony Davis swap that sent shockwaves through the Association, have dreams of adding Durant to their Davis-Kyrie Irving-led group.”
‘No Foreshadowing’ in Irving’s Durant-to-Dallas Dream
Even if the Mavericks fail to add Durant at Thursday’s trade deadline, the dream is far from dead. Durant has just one year left on the four-year, $194 million contract he signed with Brooklyn and that remains in place during his stay in Phoenix. Failing to move him on Thursday, the Suns will likely want to move Durant in the offseason, to avoid receiving nothing in return when he hits free agency after the 2025-2026 season â at age 37. The Mavericks remain likely to target him again in the coming summer.
Irving, however, was careful to explain that his “dream” was intended to be, at this point, just that â a dream.
“Irving said his comments about wanting to play with Durant and Davis in 2018 had ‘no foreshadowing,’” according to The Athletic.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Mavericks Target Kevin Durant Trade to Make Kyrie Irving Big 3 ‘Dream’ Come True appeared first on Heavy Sports.