While Kevin Durant admitted he rejected a move to return to the Golden State Warriors at the trade deadline, he left the door open for a future deal.
The Phoenix Suns star told his former Warriors teammate Draymond Green on his podcast show with Baron Davis that he would be open to joining them if they still want to trade for him in the offseason.
“We just play the season out and if that’s the decision you want to make in the offseason then you figure it out,” Durant said on the “Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis” that dropped on Wednesday, Feb. 26. “It’s just such a big change to make and I’ve been through it before I was like damn that’s not really it. If I can stop it then why not?”
So Durant stopped the trade before the Warriors would have mortgaged their future for him.
“A player like me costs a lot,” Durant explained. “Going into your team is gonna be a whole new era of your team when I get to your team and that’s a lot of work through the season like I’m still of value, especially with my contract and just my production that me just getting up and moving in the middle of season, it’s going to be a big blow to any team I’m going.”
The Nixed Kevin Durant Trade Framework
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne, the Warriors would have surrendered both Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga in the multi-team trade framework that was discussed which Durant shut down.
“The three-way talks even expanded to loop in Washington. Those talks included Butler, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas, two first-round picks (from the Warriors) and two second-round picks (one each from the Heat and Warriors), and pick swaps going to the Suns, sources said. The Warriors would’ve received Durant, while the Heat could’ve received Wiggins, Cleveland’s 2025 first-round pick (via Phoenix), Dennis Schroder and Kyle Anderson,” Windhorst and Shelburne wrote.
From Durant’s vantage point, such a trade would gut out the Warriors’ depth and dry their draft capital — it will be the same situation he’s currently in right now in Phoenix.
“I get why y’all want to trade me and looking at it just from the simple fact that’s just business but from me looking at it, it just don’t make sense for either side right now to go through that,” Durant said.
Kevin Durant Protected The Warriors By Rejecting Trade
Durant learned his lesson when he forced his way to Phoenix in the middle of the 2023-24 season, costing the Suns their top perimeter players Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round draft picks and a pick swap. He did not want the Warriors to suffer the same fate.
“Look what y’all doing right now,” Durant told Green. “You’re looking good with Jimmy [Butler] and then you still got Kuminga on the way back so I didn’t think [trading for me] made sense.”
The Warriors got Butler at a cheaper cost, with only Wiggins as the key player and a protected first-round pick going out. Golden State still has Kuminga and their other draft capital to make another move this summer.
The Warriors are 6-1 since Butler arrived as they climbed to No. 8 in the West. On the other end, Durant and the Suns continue their free fall. They fell to No. 11 after losing eight of their last 10 games.
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