Despite emerging as a serious candidate to get traded in the days leading up to the NBA's trade deadline, Kevin Durant will finish out this season at least with the Phoenix Suns. The franchise that was rumored to be trying the hardest to acquire him was his former team the Golden State Warriors, and they had to make do eith Jimmy Butler instead.
The Durant rumors felt like they appeared in light of Luka Doncic's shock move to the Los Angeles Lakers, and it is unclear how much truth there was to them. The Suns were never going to trade Devin Booker and were stuck with Bradley Beal and his no-trade clause, which made putting Durant's name out there an easy thing to do. As it has so often been in the past.
One shock rival made a late push to try and add Durant to their team.
That's according to NBA Insider Chris Haynes, who dropped the unexpected information when the deadline had passed that none other than the Minnesota Timberwolves had made a late play for the 36-year-old. Quite how that could have actually happened is anybody's guess - although the Suns are now in business for a new center - but nothing should surprise us at this point.
Sources: A team that made a last-ditch effort near the deadline to engage the Phoenix Suns on trading for Kevin Durant to no avail: the Minnesota Timberwolves.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 6, 2025
Perhaps Julius Randle would have been offered to Phoenix instead, despite the fact he is a divisive player who in some ways would be like saddling the organization with another Bradley Beal kind of player. Somebody whose trade value is not particularly high right now, and whose fit next to Booker and Beal also looks clunky on paper.
The most interesting aspect of all of this requires going back to the playoffs last season, and the Team USA experience at the Olympic Games in Paris that followed. The Suns were swept by the Timberwolves, with their superstar Anthony Edwards having a coming out party as he jawwed at Durant throughout the entire series.
It came out during that series that Durant was Edwards' idol, and it was all love between the two once the Timberwolves advanced. That love truly blossomed when they played together on Team USA, and it often looked like Durant was gravitating more towards Edwards than he was spending time with his own teammate Booker.
Ultimately that talk died down - more so because a trade looked incredibly unlikely than anything else - but the timing of Haynes' post on this is worth noting. If you think the Suns have had a turbulent season to this point, just wait until we get to the summer. Talk of Durant making another move in search of a third championship is only going to increase then.
Given that this season does not look like it is going to end any differently to a year ago - and that's if the Suns even make it to the playoffs - we could see a change in direction from the front office. It would be amazing if they could find a new home for Beal - but if that doesn't come to fruition - the Timberwolves could make another push for Durant to try and get over the hump themselves.