Getty Kevin Durant playing against his former Golden State Warriors team.
What the Golden State Warriors do during the 2024 NBA offseason could ultimately decide how the rest of Stephen Curry’s career will go. It’s clear that they need change after losing in the Play-In Tournament and there will be options for them to address those areas. Listing realistic and dream targets for every team, Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report listed former Warriors great Kevin Durant as a “dream” target.
“What a story this would be. Titles have eluded Kevin Durant ever since he left the Warriors in 2019, and the best shot for both him and his former team might be a reunification,” Bailey wrote on May 22. “Of course, that happening would depend on the Phoenix Suns coming to some kind of realization about the quagmire they’ve put themselves in with the last couple years of moves, which is no guarantee.
“Maybe a massive offer with salary filler (like Chris Paul or Andrew Wiggins), most of the young talent (like Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody) and most of the draft capital they can muster would at least get some in the Suns’ front office to think about it.”
Would the Needed Package Be Worth It for Kevin Durant?
Any package for Kevin Durant would feature most of the Golden State Warriors picks as the Phoenix Suns would likely be heading in a different direction if they moved him. Trading for Durant could also mean that they’d have to move Jonathan Kuminga, a young 21-year-old who’s proven he can be a high-level NBA player.
While moving Kuminga could hurt in the long run, the Warriors would be going all in for a championship. Durant still has two years on his contract and a player option in the third season, so realistically, this could be a three-year window to win it all.
It’s not a guarantee that they’ll win, and while the last time Durant teamed up with Curry and the Warriors wasn’t, they were the clear favorites to get the job done. However, the idea of teaming them up should excite the Warriors front office.
Whether that means they’re willing to trade Kuminga and mostly all of the other assets required to land Durant remains to be seen.
How Kevin Durant Would Help the Warriors
What Durant does on the offensive would offer the Golden State Warriors one of the best scorers in the world. He had another impressive season, averaging 27.1 points on 52.3% from the field and 41.3% from three-point range.
He’s averaged over 26.0 points per game in each season since 2017-2018, and he’s done so by being one of the most efficient scorers in the world. 35 years old, there haven’t been any clear signs of him slowing down, which should continue if he were to play for the Warriors as he’d have Curry also taking the pressure off of him on the offensive end.
Curry and Durant attracting the type of attention they do would help both of them out. Defenses would have to focus on one of them, allowing the other to put up big numbers, making the Warriors one of the best offenses in the game again.