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Landing Spots for Kevin Durant During 2025 NBA Offseason
Has Kevin Durant already played his last game for the Phoenix Suns?
A left ankle sprain forced the 36-year-old out of his team's Sunday night loss to the Houston Rockets midway through the third quarter. He is expected to miss at least one week, a tricky timeline so late into the year.
Four games will remain on Phoenix's schedule once that initial week is up. The Suns' ongoing play-in chase coupled with KD's gamer mentality suggests he will take the floor again. But he needed to be helped off the court Sunday night and was unable to shoot the free throws owed to him.
Is it worth rushing him back just for the right to maaaybe make it out of the play-in tournament and get trucked in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder? Especially when he and Phoenix both have his trade value to think about?
After shopping him ahead of February's deadline, the Suns are expected to work with Durant on finding him a new home this summer, per ESPN's Shams Charania. With the rest of his season in jeopardy, it feels like a good time to take stock of potential landing spots.
Durant has just one year left on his contract and, as such, will have plenty of say in where he winds up. That will factor into the construction of this list, as will a team's proximity to title contention and collection of assets. Prospective destinations are ranked by combining the appeal of KD's fit on the roster and the likelihood that the team will enter the running for his services.
5. New York Knicks
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Any Kevin Durant-to-the-New York Knicks scenario is predicated on the latter wanting to get out of the Karl-Anthony Towns business and the Suns (or another team) really wanting to enter it.
Yes, the Knicks have other salaries to move around. But they aren't dealing Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby is too pivotal if you're keeping Towns, and the optics of rerouting Mikal Bridges for a soon-to-be 37-year-old after you mortgaged the farm to get him aren't great.
Though Durant isn't exactly what New York needs, he adds a more bankable secondary option to the fold. Anunoby and Bridges have leveled up during Brunson's absence with a right ankle sprain, but the Knicks still rank 19th in half-court efficiency during that span.
Subbing out Towns for Durant also stands to help the defense if New York believes Mitchell Robinson can stay healthy (mega debatable) and/or it has the remaining assets to go nab another, more durable big.
Framed this way, the Knicks' potential interest isn't nearly as far-fetched as it initially seems. Would they be willing to make a semi-nuclear shift just one year into the KAT experience? And is he enough to serve as the primary anchor of a KD trade? Both are entirely separate matters.
4. Oklahoma City Thunder
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On the one hand, reunions are cool! On the other hand, the Oklahoma City Thunder are not an organization known to act brashly. Nor is it one that necessarily needs KD. Oklahoma City may win the whole damn thing this year.
Any interest in Durant is contingent upon a playoff run short-circuited by the offense. That is not as likely to happen as last year if you're paying attention. It is also not outside the realm of possibility.
Durant is among the most plug-and-play superstars in league history. The Thunder don't have to worry about his arrival derailing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren. They also have the draft-pick stash and room beneath the luxury tax to make the math work without obliterating too much of the rotation.
Building a package around Isaiah Hartenstien and Isaiah Joe works on its own. Oklahoma City can sub in Aaron Wiggins for Joe and add another smaller salary, too. Attaching draft equity to the latter package seems like it'll be more up the Suns' alley.
Either way, this can be a two- or three-for-one structure. That's eminently doable over the offseason. If not for the sheer "Will they even look at KD?" of it all, the Thunder would rank much higher.
3. Golden State Warriors
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Kevin Durant vetoed a trade ahead of the deadline to the Golden State Warriors, who then pivoted to Jimmy Butler. This may remove them from the summertime running.
However!
During an appearance on The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis, KD intimated his decision was more about the midseason timing than the idea of a reunion itself. That opens the door for Golden State to rekindle talks with Phoenix.
Reopening that door is complicated. It gets slightly easier if the Suns still want Butler and the Warriors prefer Durant to him. That's not impossible should Golden State believe it can approximate his playmaking, rim pressure, foul-drawing and overall scoring through KD and Jonathan Kuminga. The Warriors would miss Butler's defense, but fewer redundancies between Durant and Kuminga could elevate the offense.
Failing that, Golden State could look to build a package around Draymond Green. Both he and Suns team governor Mat Ishbia are from Michigan, Devin Booker is best served playing beside a decision-making big, and Green remains good enough to anchor a defense.
Fleshing out the rest of the package is somewhat challenging. Including Buddy Hield is a start. Giving up Moses Moody is tough. He and Butler become even more critical to the defense without Green. The Warriors likely need the Suns (if they get out of the second apron) or a helping hand to be interested in a Kuminga sign-and-trade to bring any non-Butler package together.
2. Minnesota Timberwolves
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The Minnesota Timberwolves were among the teams who made an eleventh-hour push at the deadline for Kevin Durant. There is little reason to think they won't revisit the bargaining table over the offseason.
Despite placing inside the top 10 of points scored per possession on the season, the Wolves offense feels fragile. In any given game, it can suffer from a lack of playmaking, decision-making and overarching dynamism.
Barring the acquisition of a true floor general or Rob Dillingham proving he's ready entering his sophomore campaign, the generational scalability of Durant's shooting and scoring provides more than enough cover along Anthony Edwards. (It certainly doesn't hurt that KD is Edwards' GOAT, either.)
Cobbling together a Durant package gets much easier for the Timberwolves over the offseason as well. Their only tradeable first-rounder is still this year's Detroit Pistons pick, but they won't be as constrained by second-apron limitations.
Julius Randle picking up his player option and being included as an expiring anchor is the most logical starting point. That changes if he heads into free agency, or if Phoenix kiboshes his acquisition and Minnesota is unable to suss out a third team.
Even then, the Timberwolves have matching-salary options in Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and, potentially, Naz Reid (player option). Are they willing to give up two of them as part of a KD deal? Is that even enough to get the Suns (and any facilitating squads) to bite? Unless something changes during the playoffs, Minnesota should at least consider nearly any and all KD scenarios.
1. Houston Rockets
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You cannot mention the Kevin Durant trade sweepstakes without looping in the Houston Rockets. Their appetite for adding someone who turns 37 in September to a younger core remains unclear, but there is plenty of merit to a potential chase when weighing all the factors.
Houston controls three of the Suns' next four first-rounders, making it a natural trade partner. Phoenix team governor Mat Ishbia can downplay the value of draft picks and rule out the possibility of dealing Devin Booker all he wants. There is still no overstating the value of reacquiring any part of your first-round future when you won't have ownership over it again until 2032. And that's assuming the Suns prevent their 2032 first-rounder from being moved to No. 30 as the result of staying in the second apron.
The Rockets also have a bundle of intriguing youngsters and salary-matching tools they can use to construct packages. Jalen Green or Alperen Şengün can serve as the primary outgoing money, or Houston can streamline the process by picking up Fred VanVleet's $44.9 million team option and dangling him as an expiring deal. It doesn't hurt that Durant and head coach Ime Udoka seem to heart each other AAF, either.
Whether the Rockets actually enter the fray likely depends on their playoff run. They are firmly entrenched in the bottom 10 of half-court offensive efficiency, a source of potential undoing Durant more than addresses. But they immediately tumble down this list if they win two (or even one) postseason series and/or prefer to hold their powder for a Booker trade.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Spotrac. Draft-pick obligations via RealGM.
