Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry won two championships together with the Golden State Warriors, but that doesn’t mean a reunion is coming. In fact, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and a number of other reports on Wednesday afternoon, Durant does not want to return to the Warriors at the trade deadline. Phoenix sports radio host John Gambadoro said trade talks had lost momentum by 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday and a Durant-to-Warriors trade was “highly unlikely.”
The Warriors have been in hot pursuit of Durant and virtually every other feasibly available All-Star during this deadline period. Golden State is looking to make one last push to win around the 36-year-old Curry, but after a hot start this season, they have hovered around .500 as the deadline has approached. Their December trade for Dennis Schroder has failed to yield an acceptable No. 2 scorer, so now, Golden State has set its sights far higher.
Durant has “no desire” to return to Golden State, per Charania, but it isn’t technically his choice. Unlike his Suns teammate, Bradley Beal, Durant does not have a no-trade clause in his contract. Unlike Jimmy Butler, he doesn’t have the ability to opt out of his contract this summer either, so using the threat of free agency to scare other teams off isn’t going to be as easy, either. If the Warriors want to trade for an unhappy Durant, they are free to do so.
However, according to Chris Haynes, the Warriors do not want to trade for a disgruntled superstar. While the possibility for back-channel recruiting still exists, that means that a reunion here is unlikely.
It is unclear at this point if Durant would be more open to a trade to another team. If the Suns are still fixated on landing Butler, for example, that could open the door to a trade with the Miami Heat. The Dallas Mavericks have also reportedly been interested in Durant. Meanwhile, it is unclear what sort of moves the Suns could make that would vault them into the championship picture with Durant. The only player in Phoenix that appears untouchable at this juncture is Devin Booker. With less than 24 hours remaining until the deadline, almost anything is still in play.
