Kevin Durant

[Ethomasp31]

Doesn't seem KD is wanting to try to win another ring. Get the most money possible, win games, and play basketball. That's fine. I'd still comfortably give up Randle+ to get him, but im not including Ant, Jaden, Naz, Tsj, #17, Rob, Jaylen Clark, and only including Rudy if there's a legit center option coming back to us.

Wherever KD goes, they will be picked to win more games than the Wolves next season.

[Klomp]

For being adamant that Kevin Durant doesn't want to be in Minnesota, they spent a lot of time talking about the idea of Minnesota trading for him and what a trade discussion could look like....

Watch on YouTube

[Klomp]

Look we all know whatever move Connelly makes you will defend it to death…

I know it seems like I'm defending it, especially when I am pushing back against so many who strongly oppose it.

I think I would categorize my posting style on RealGM as trying to understand and then portray the "why" behind transactions and other decisions made within the organization, and using that to try to predict what I think could happen in the future. I don't agree with every move, but I always try to understand why decisions were made rather than just blindly bashing them without that understanding.

IDK Klomp, just randomly bashing stuff seems the Internets favorite pasttime. Who needs facts??

It's a hazard of my profession, I'm afraid...

[BlacJacMac]

For being adamant that Kevin Durant doesn't want to be in Minnesota, they spent a lot of time talking about the idea of Minnesota trading for him and what a trade discussion could look like....

Watch on YouTube

Sounded to me like they were mostly saying this new info changes everything.

Minnesota will be lowering their offer, Durant's camp hopes the Suns won't send him there, etc.

[Domejandro]

Read on Twitter

I'm not a big Gambo guy (I think he isn't reliable, despite having some sources), but he is saying that Miami's current package is too weak. Leads me to believe that Kel'el Ware has not been put on the table for Kevin Durant.

[Neeva]

Who is bringing up this Durant hates the Minnesota franchise and cold weather thing? Is it coming from Miami so other teams keep low balling and Connelly is scared away?

Im fine with this since I don’t want old ass and expensive Durant and don’t mind other Minnesota fans souring on him

[Domejandro]

If I had to guess about the Kevin Durant landscape.

1. Toronto is lurking with an R.J. Barrett and Jakob Poeltl package, but is trying to finaggle trading for Kevin Durant without Poeltl's involvement (which isn't happening). Them having #9 is also interesting, but hard to see them giving up that and Jakob Poeltl.
2. Minnesota is trying to put together a package, but is effectively crunched salary-wise until the NBA year rolls over.
3. Houston is offering Jalen Green, filler, and a future Phoenix pick. Maybe #10 is involved instead of the future first?
4. San Antonio is only slightly interested, and are firm on filler + #14.
5. Miami is offering Andrew Wiggins, an expiring, #20, and a future first.

[Domejandro]

Who is bringing up this Durant hates the Minnesota franchise and cold weather thing? Is it coming from Miami so other teams keep low balling and Connelly is scared away?

Im fine with this since I don’t want old ass and expensive Durant and don’t mind other Minnesota fans souring on him

Kevin Durant's business partners. Personally, I don't think it has to do with the cold (even though he's made jokes on Twitter about it over a decade ago), but rather going back to Texas is attractive for him, the Miami HEAT program is a hooper's dream, both states have no state-income tax, and then the weather thing is probably next after that. There are a myriad of factors why those would be his three primary options; if it was just weather, both LA teams would be on his list.

[winforlose]

If the Suns are dead set on literally trading Durant at the draft, it would be extremely difficult.

Right now, we are not a second apron team, or even a first apron team. Most people don’t understand this, but you don’t become hardcapped at an apron until you make one of the forbidden transactions, and we made none of them this season. HOWEVER, if do a trade where we take back less than we send out, we’d have to be under the first apron when the trade is completed. And if we combined players so that we sent out more than we took in, we’d have to be under the second apron when the trade is completed.

Right now, MIN is $16.6 over the second apron. To legally do a Durant trade at the deadline, we would need to send out at least $16.6 PLUS $51.2 or $67.8 mil. This would include Gobert ($43.8), because finding salaries to add to Randle ($33) without Rudy in it would be very difficult.

There is also the difficulty involved of displacing enough salary with other teams. For example, suppose Rudy went to PHX, and Randle went to a third team. PHX also can’t afford to take back more salary than they take in, so even if this mysterious third team had perfectly aligned contracts, they could only send $9 mil more to MIN and $7.4 to PHX, taking on $33 while sending out only $16.4. No single team has the cap space at this point of the season to make that a legal trade. There only way possible is to have several other teams added to the deal, to use their available payroll relief, and salary matching rules, to reduce this gap to a legal number!

Fortunately though, I don’t think the Suns will necessarily make the KD trade at the draft, but could instead agree in principle on a deal, but both teams would agree to make it legal when the new season starts.

Isn’t Rudy trade ineligible until his new contract takes over?

[Loaf_of_bread]

One aspect I am a bit confused about is the extension following the trade, for whatever team does end up doing it.

Is an extension a given pre-trade? Does Durant and his team's willingness to agree to an extension or not add or decrease his value? Is it better for said team that trades for him to not agree to an extension initially? Does KD hold any value for the team that trades for him if he wants out following the one-year rental?

[jpatrick]

Jon K with an interesting article on the Athletic. Essentially implies that we have the best package and deal probably done if not for Durant’s desire to not come here. Says that unless Durant changes his mind, we are unlikely to make a deal.

[Klomp]

Jon K with an interesting article on the Athletic. Essentially implies that we have the best package and deal probably done if not for Durant’s desire to not come here. Says that unless Durant changes his mind, we are unlikely to make a deal.

The key paragraph:

The Suns have made it clear to Durant’s camp that they need to prioritize the best return for the team in a deal. What’s more, they appear focused on landing the kind of impact players who can help now as opposed to prioritizing draft picks. The Wolves would seem to have options available to offer, with Rudy Gobert or Julius Randle headlining a package that could give the Suns hopes of contending. With the offers from the Spurs, Rockets and Heat coming up short to this point, league sources say the Suns are still hopeful that Durant might warm to the Timberwolves possibility.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6431028/2025/06/16/kevin-durant-trade-timberwolves-possibility-nba-rumors/

[shrink]

Isn’t Rudy trade ineligible until his new contract takes over?

It’s for six months after the date a player signs the extension

[Domejandro]

Yeah, it seems pretty clear that Minnesota and Phoenix have a deal in place and are just trying to get Kevin Durant to say that he is comfortable with moving forward with it.

[minimus]

If I had to guess about the Kevin Durant landscape.

1. Toronto is lurking with an R.J. Barrett and Jakob Poeltl package, but is trying to finaggle trading for Kevin Durant without Poeltl's involvement (which isn't happening). Them having #9 is also interesting, but hard to see them giving up that and Jakob Poeltl.
2. Minnesota is trying to put together a package, but is effectively crunched salary-wise until the NBA year rolls over.
3. Houston is offering Jalen Green, filler, and a future Phoenix pick. Maybe #10 is involved instead of the future first?
4. San Antonio is only slightly interested, and are firm on filler + #14.
5. Miami is offering Andrew Wiggins, an expiring, #20, and a future first.

Read on Twitter

I would agree that MIN package is more about win now. The question is that PHO want to get both: win now assets and draft picks for flexibility. MIN offer is fair, but requires additional moves because DDV and Allen are kind of duplicating skillset. You trade one of them and get picks in return. Now PHO is playing the game who blinks first. But bidding war is probably stopped right now. So we wait till draft night.

Package around Gobert, DDV and Dilly works in Trade machine. But leave MIN with void at С and PG and question about Randle.

[theGreatRC]

Donte had a down year and Rob was a 19 year old rookie point guard where ups and downs are not uncommon.

I really don't want to trade the both of them. I do want to trade Rudy + Julius for a PG most of all, but I wouldn't give much for KD even if he is "on board" with coming to MIN

[Domejandro]

Assuming that it’s Rudy Gobert (would explain why Phoenix feels pressured to take Minnesota’s offer), I am really concerned about Minnesota’s defense falling off of a cliff. Rudy Gobert, for any of his faults, is a walking top-three defense whenever he is on the court.

Kevin Durant is still a solid defensive player (he anchored one of the worst defensive rotations we’ve ever seen into being just mediocre/subpar), but even declined, Rudy Gobert is an absolute freak in comparison.

(Mike/Tyus?) / Anthony Edwards / Jaden McDaniels / Kevin Durant / Rudy Gobert

That starting lineup with a solid young bench has a tremendous amount of balance. With Rudy gone, it’s so hard to see his impact be replaced. Julius Randle being the outgoing player makes infinitely more sense for Minnesota, but I don’t see him being so intriguing for Phoenix that they feel pressured into declining other offers.

That said, I feel like it’s more likely that both are traded, than it just being Rudy Gobert (Randle>Both>Gobert is my ranking), so I wonder what that multi-team trade would end up looking like. If not, I have no idea what Minnesota is doing roster-wise.

For what it’s worth, I still completely maintain that the Julius Randle packages are obvious slam-dunks. Even if the trade flops completely, it lines Minnesota up to reload salary-wise relatively quickly. I’m a little nervous about what a four year contract for Julius Randle looks like, and this is a way to mitigate that tension while still taking a big swing in the short-term.

[Neeva]

Why is Connelly outbidding himself again(for a player that doesn’t want to be here) no wonder some people hate this guy here.

Although I would be pretty gagged if it turns out that Minnesota is actually the third team in the deal and the hold up isn’t that Durant doesn’t want to be in Minny but that Houston doesn’t up the ante to satisfy Connelly.

Something like
Durant to Houston
Rudy/DDV to Phoenix
Smith Jr/Reed/10/filler (green ) to wolves?

[minimus]

Assuming that it’s Rudy Gobert (would explain why Phoenix feels pressured to take Minnesota’s offer), I am really concerned about Minnesota’s defense falling off of a cliff. Rudy Gobert, for any of his faults, is a walking top-three defense whenever he is on the court

Yep, that will require A LOT of work from coaching staff and A LOT of work from front office to fill all needs. Assuming it is Gobert, DDV and Rob.

???/???/Miller
KD/McDaniels/Minott
McDaniels/TJ/???
Edwards/Clark/???
???/Conley/???

TC needs to re-sign Reid, trade Randle and draft wisely.

[jpatrick]

This just seems like a bad use of assets. In a vacuum, I don’t mind a DDV/Gobert/filler for Durant deal. I wouldn’t want to throw in even Dilly in that deal, especially knowing Durant is not completely on board.

But that leaves Randle hanging. Durant is a PF. He’s not a SF. He’s not a C. Same with Randle. Do we just let Randle walk? Is there a sign and trade out there for Randle? Sign and trades bring back minimal assets, at most. So if the deal ends up in Randle walking and it becomes, in essence, Gobert, Randle, and DDV, that’s not worth a 37 year old Durant who is going to want about 60m/year IF, big if, he extends here.

I trust TC. But I’m leery of this move. I’d like Randle, DDV, Dilly so much more as a package.