The Minnesota Timberwolves seriously considered pairing Anthony Edwards with Kevin Durant.
Just a few hours after the Minnesota’s 2024-25 season ended with a 124-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, ESPN insiders Brian Windhorst and Tim McMahon detailed how close the T-Wolves came to pairing Durant with Edwards.
For those who may have forgotten, Durant became a late add to the NBA trade-deadline rumor mill, with his Phoenix Suns wallowing away outside the play-in tournament and devoid of a first-round pick at this year’s draft.
Edwards, one of the NBA’s best players, had played with Durant with the United States during the 2024 Beijing Olmpics. Durant called Edwards “my favorite player to watch.”
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It may not have come to Durant being seriously moved, since the Suns and Timberwolves are well above the dreaded new CBA’s second apron.
But Minnesota strongly tried to make it happen, according to Windhorst, even though they had the second-highest payroll in the NBA last season.
“It became clear to me, talking to the parties involved, how serious the Wolves were in trading for Kevin Durant at the trade deadline,” Windhorst said on the most recent “Hoop Collective” podcast. “They made some sort of progress [on a Durant trade]. Getting it done was impossible — they’re two second-apron teams — but after [Julius Randle and Naz Reid opt out this off-season] the Wolves will not be a second-apron team.”
Windhorst further explained how Timberwolves general manager Tim Connolly has not been shy making team-improving, blockbuster deals. Connolly, of course, dealt Karl-Anthony Towns for Randle and Donte DiVincenzo last off-season, and dealt five players and four first-round draft picks for Rudy Gobert during the 2022-23 off-season.
“If you look at Tim Connolly, he made the big Gobert trade, he made the big trading [Towns] for Julius Randle and DiVincenzo,” Windhorst said. “He’s likes to make [big trades].”
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Minnesota may be frigid in the winter, certainly moreso than the Valley of the Sun. But the Twin Cities seem like the most likely landing spot for Durant to play in 2025-26.
Durant has one season left on his massive four-year, $190 million contract he signed with the Brooklyn Nets before he forced his way to Phoenix at the 2023 trade deadline.
With the Suns going 36-46 last season, despite having the NBA’s highest payroll, they are expected to shed salary and bring in draft assets, since Phoenix may not have its own first-round pick until 2032 at this point.
Durant can help with both, since he still can score — he averaged 26.6 points per game last season — and pairs nicely with Edwards. Plus, Windhorst reported the Suns are shopping Durant on ESPN earlier this week.
“I’m like 98 percent sure he’s not going to be a Sun next year,” Windhorst said. “How [a trade] works out, I’m about 1 percent sure.”
Windhorst added that Durant likely will want a contract extension anywhere he goes. But that’s also where things get hairy, since ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported Durant is eligible for a two-year, $122 million extension this summer.
Even if Randle and Reid opt out, Minnesota will only be $20 million under the second apron, and Durant is owed $54.7 million next season. There are ways it could work — Jaden McDaniels could end up going to Phoenix or either DiVincenzo or Mike Conley Jr. — but it would require work.
There’s time for all that to be worked out in the off-season, which as MacMahon points out, proves why it was so difficult for Minnesota to pull off a trade during the regular season.
“It would have been an extraordinarily complicated series of deals,” he said.
Here’s How Close the Timberwolves Came to Trading for Kevin Durant