If this is indeed Kevin Durant‘s final season with the Phoenix Suns, ESPN’s NBA insider Brian Windhorst pointed to a team, other than the Golden State Warriors, who could trade for the 15-time NBA All-Star.
“Another small market team to watch — the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Windhorst said on “Get Up” on Thursday, March 6. “Anthony Edwards and KD have a very tight connection, also from the Olympics. The Timberwolves tried to pull off a crazy trade at the deadline for KD. Look for them to revisit those talks this summer.”
NBA insider Chris Haynes reported on Feb. 6 that the Timberwolves made a last-ditch effort to trade for Durant and pair him with Edwards “to no avail.”
It is unclear what offer the Timberwolves made, if it reached that point, since they are out of draft capital. But what they have though are veteran players such as Julius Randle, who is due for $33 million this season and has a $30.9 million player option for next season.
Minnesota will be at a great disadvantage if Phoenix decides to dismantle its “Big Three” and trade Durant in the offseason to rebuild. But if the Suns are just going to reload and try another configuration with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, then the Timberwolves might have a shot at Durant.
Most Aggressive Kevin Durant Suitor
The Warriors were the most aggressive team in pursuing Durant at the trade deadline. They already had a complex multi-team trade framework in place that would have seen Jimmy Butler go to Phoenix and Durant back to Golden State. But Durant was not interested in a Warriors reunion at the time.
However, he left the door open when he guested on the “Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis” on Feb. 26.
“We just play the season out and if that’s the decision you want to make in the offseason then [we] figure it out,” Durant told Green and Davis. “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.”
Durant knew he would cost a lot, so he nixed the Warriors’ move which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“Look what y’all doing right now,” Durant told Green. “You’re looking good with Jimmy [Butler] and then you still got [Jonathan] Kuminga on the way back so I didn’t think [trading for me] made sense.”
The Warriors revisiting a Durant trade in the offseason will depend on how things shake out with Butler in the playoffs.
Kevin Durant Downplays Heated Exchange With Coach Bud
Durant also said one of the reasons he did not want a midseason trade was he was committed to see what he and the Suns could do this season and determined to work it out.
The embattled Suns pulled back 2.5 games back to the final play-in berth with 20 games left in the season, the toughest schedule remaining in the league, according to Tankathon, after an emotional come-from-behind 119-117 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, March 4.
An ugly scene went viral with Durant and Suns coach Mike Budenholzer in an animated exchange during the game.
Durant downplayed the incident.
“Yeah, that’s what usually happens when you don’t know the dynamics of a relationship,” Durant told reporters after leading the Suns comeback with 21 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter. “You catch something on TV, you get a quote, and now you’re pushing that narrative as if me and Bud don’t do that [expletive] all the time.
“We’re competitive as two individuals who want to see things done the right way. And sometimes my way ain’t the way that Bud wants to do it, and vice versa. And he allows me, as a player on the team, a veteran on the team, to voice my opinion.”
‘We’re Like Old Friends’
If anything, the heated exchange only showed they care, Durant insisted.
“If we both didn’t care, we would never have stuff like that,” Durant continued. You know what I’m saying? And I’m glad that the win is going to sweep that stupid stuff under the rug, because people couldn’t wait — even some people in Phoenix, in here, couldn’t wait to run with that and say, ‘Oh, this is the reason why the team ain’t playing well, because of that specific thing.’
“But come on, man. That shows that me and Bud really care about trying to … win basketball games. So he understands where I’m coming from. I understand exactly where he is coming from. It’s just people on the outside don’t know the dynamics of the relationship. So in order for them to get some attention, they’re going to run with stuff like that.”
Budenholzer used “old friendship” analogy to explain what transpired between him and his star forward.
“You know, he and I are like old friends or whatever,” Budenholzer told reporters. “We’re always probably grabbing and talking to each other. So I thought his energy and his voice tonight was great.
“I think there was some kind of play, offensive play — he wanted something, I wanted something. And that’s the beauty of basketball. But I think as the game, really from that moment, his voice and him talking, feedback, ideas, suggestions, it was really, I think, a big part of the night.”
NBA Insider Names Warriors’ Rival For Suns Star Kevin Durant