{"id":121688,"date":"2025-02-03T13:24:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T18:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=121688"},"modified":"2025-02-03T13:24:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T18:24:34","slug":"warriors-kevin-durant-trade-attempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/03\/warriors-kevin-durant-trade-attempt\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Reunion Trade Attempt Falls Through"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a few weeks since\u00a0<\/span>Steph Curry<\/span><\/a>\u00a0cautioned his franchise against mortgaging the team’s future for a quick fix, so to speak. The Warriors, quick fix or long-term fix, without question, require some fix at some point. Their interest in\u00a0<\/span>Jimmy Butler<\/span><\/a>\u00a0appears grounded. The same goes for\u00a0<\/span>Zach LaVine<\/span><\/a>, who was dealt to the Sacramento Kings. With Golden State\u00a0<\/span>continuing its hunt to improve its current roster<\/span><\/a>, they reportedly talked to the Phoenix Suns last week. About what? The Warriors were looking to trade for\u00a0<\/span>Kevin Durant<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warriors Reunion Trade Attempt Falls Through<\/h2>\n

Golden State Warriors Looked Into Kevin Durant Trade; Suns Label Him ‘Unavailable’<\/h3>\n

Two teams expected to make a significant move over the looming four days are Golden State and Phoenix. Both had their eyes on Butler, but\u00a0<\/span>he will not extend with any team<\/span><\/a>\u00a0save the Suns; at least, that is his stance to date. The Warriors, however, tested the waters of another NBA superstar last week and inquired about Durant’s availability. Phoenix reportedly shut the door.\u00a0<\/span>ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel reports the details<\/span><\/a>, including Golden State’s interest in others.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Lots to unpack with the Warriors, who attempted to make some big swings over the last 72 hours. Not only did they call the Suns last week about Kevin Durant, but they also held deep talks with the Bulls about [Zach] LaVine and Vuc [Nikola Vucevic<\/a>]. Everything then shifted to Butler, which fell apart.” Siegel added, “And the Suns made it very clear that KD isn\u2019t available, nor is Devin Booker.”<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s unclear whether Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. also inquired about\u00a0<\/span>Devin Booker.<\/span><\/a> Considering no prior rumor, speculation, or even a hint of interest leaked, it’s likely Dunleavy called for Durant and only Durant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would A Reunion Fix The Dubs?<\/h3>\n

While they wouldn’t terrorize the league as they did in 2016 through 2019, it’s fair to speculate that Durant back in a Warriors uniform would significantly increase their championship contender odds immediately. Of course, Durant,\u00a0<\/span>Draymond Green<\/span><\/a>, and Steph are all several years older. Plus,\u00a0<\/span>Klay Thompson<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is long gone. A reunion with KD would look different, yet they would have to be better, and it’s hard to imagine otherwise. Golden State has taken quite the tumble lately and currently sits outside of playoff positioning. <\/span><\/p>\n

Durant led the Warriors to back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018, capturing Finals MVP each time. The Durant-Curry-Green-Thompson line-up was menacing. With no disrespect shown\u00a0<\/span>Kawhi Leonard<\/span><\/a>‘s way, the Toronto Raptors would still be without an NBA championship had Durant not fallen to injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five-plus years later, Durant is still playing like a superstar with the Suns, despite their disappointing early playoff losses and the current season in which Phoenix is only 25-23. KD hasn’t experienced much success since joining Phoenix from the Brooklyn Nets. There, Durant also fell short. However, the fall of those Nets can hardly be placed on his shoulders. Durant averages 26.9 points on 52% from the field and 40.5% from the three-point line. He hasn’t lost much of a step like LeBron James, even in his twilight years. Yes, KD could undoubtedly change the direction of the Warriors. Unfortunately, a reunion is off the board unless, of course, Durant were to ask to be traded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a few weeks since\u00a0Steph Curry\u00a0cautioned his franchise against mortgaging the team’s future for a quick fix, so to speak. The Warriors, quick fix or long-term fix, without question, require some fix at some point. Their interest in\u00a0Jimmy Butler\u00a0appears grounded. The same goes for\u00a0Zach LaVine, who was dealt to the Sacramento Kings. With Golden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":121691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4721,1608,25,62,28],"tags":[352,409,142,168,69,70,38,474,48,457],"class_list":["post-121688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trade-rumors","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-nba","category-suns","tag-devin-booker","tag-draymond-green","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kevin-durant","tag-klay-thompson","tag-lebron-james","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-stephen-curry","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121714,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121688\/revisions\/121714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}