Kevin Durant Had ‘No Desire’ To Return To The Warriors, Who ‘Abandoned’ Trade Talks

The most successful years of Kevin Durant’s career from a team perspective were his three seasons in Golden State, where he helped lead the Warriors to two championships where he was Finals MVP both times before losing to the Raptors in their quest for a three-peat after he and Klay Thompson suffered injuries.

However, that last season in the Bay featured a pretty clear rift building between Durant and the Warriors, most famously playing out in a spat on the bench with Draymond Green. That summer, Durant would leave for Brooklyn to team up with Kyrie Irving and has failed to lead another team to the top of the league in his time with the Nets and Suns. With Phoenix in Play-In position and Bradley Beal unwilling to waive his no-trade clause, the Suns have been exploring their options to shake things up, with Jimmy Butler hoping to land in the desert amid his trade request from the Miami Heat.

That has led to rumors this week that the Suns are listening on trade offers for Durant, with the Golden State Warriors being the most aggressive team in pursuit of the future Hall of Famer. The problem for the Warriors is, Durant has no interest in going back to the Bay. On Wednesday, after a couple days of very loud rumblings about a Warriors deal, numerous reports surfaced with one clear message from Durant: He doesn’t want to play for the Warriors again.

Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported he had “serious reservations” about coming back, before Shams Charania made it abundantly clear with his report on ESPN that he has “no desire in a reunion with the Warriors. He does not want to go back to the Warriors.”

Brian Windhorst followed that Charania report by suggesting his best guess is Durant either remains with the Suns or ends up with the Heat, which would be a wild return for Miami to get for Butler. All of this begs the question…why are the Suns suddenly so desperate to trade Durant?

I think at least a part of it — and the reason why the Warriors are trying to get in on every All-Star in the NBA — is that other owners are losing their minds at the Lakers landing Luka Doncic. There’s not really a good basketball reason to trade Kevin Durant, but Mat Ishbia has enjoyed making splashy moves at every possible turn (including bringing Durant to Phoenix). The other reason is also not dissimilar to what Dallas just did (just with very different and more understandable circumstances), which is Phoenix likely anticipates Durant looking to leave soon and potentially asking for a trade this summer. He did not re-sign on an extension this past summer and it seems pretty clear this Suns team as constructed isn’t a real contender, which would make it reasonable for the 36-year-old Durant to want to find a new team that gives him one more run at a title.

If the Suns see that as a possibility, I understand why they’d at least see what’s out there on the market right now. If they were to turn Durant into a few quality players (either young or in their prime) and some draft assets they desperately lack, I could understand trying to reset a touch and try one more build around Devin Booker. That said, if the plan is to turn Durant into Jimmy Butler, I do not see how that solves their problems, but we do know Butler would re-sign longterm when Durant seems to not want to do the same.

On the Warriors side, they have apparently received that message from Durant and have pivoted to their own pursuit of Butler — despite Jimmy stating he didn’t plan on re-signing there if traded. According to Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic and Marc Stein, Golden State has “abandoned” talks with the Suns and moved on to Miami to try and work out a deal for Butler. At this point, if the Warriors strike out on Butler, they’ll have to reassess their position and circle back on guys like Nikola Vucevic or perhaps Brandon Ingram. If Thursday’s deadline comes and goes without a legitimate star going to the Warriors, it’ll be hard for them to explain away to their fans after such a public pursuit of so many guys.