It was a disappointing season for the Golden State Warriors, failing to make the playoffs after losing in the Play-In Tournament to the Sacramento Kings. The Phoenix Suns, another Western Conference team with high expectations heading into the season, also struggled, getting swept in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
If current Sun and former Warriors star Kevin Durant, 35, becomes available in the offseason, he could be a fit to rejoin Golden State, according to Stephen Noh of the Sporting News.
“The Warriors don’t have the best draft compensation to offer the Suns. They could trade first round picks in 2025 and 2027 or 2028,” Noh wrote in an April 30 column exploring Durant’s top landing spots if the Suns make him available with two years left on his $194 million contract. “But they do have a lot of intriguing young players. Jonathan Kuminga was in contention for the Most Improved Player award and would be the first guy that the Suns ask for.
“The 21-year-old forward averaged 16.1 points per game last season. Brandin Podziemski was one of the steals of the 2023 draft and immediately earned Steve Kerr’s trust. Moses Moody showed improvement, and Trayce Jackson-Davis showed that he could be a backup big man in the league.Most (if not all) of those guys would need to go out in a Durant trade, giving the Suns much-needed depth and youth around Booker.”
Kevin Durant Wasn’t ‘Always Happy’
Durant has never been afraid to ask for a trade, and his past moves indicate he’s never been worried about what the media thinks about him. The four-time scoring champion signed with the Warriors in 2016 after losing to them in the playoffs weeks earlier, a move that went down as one of the biggest surprises in NBA history.
And in 2023, Durant asked to be traded from the Brooklyn Nets and was granted that wish, landing with the Suns in a blockbuster deal. However, about a year later, Durant wasn’t “always happy with how he was used” on the Suns, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
“Meanwhile, Durant, among the best scorers in NBA history, was not always happy with how he was used. … Those sources said Durant had persistent issues with the offense, feeling that he was being relegated to the corner far too often and not having the proper designs to play to his strengths as the offense was built around pick-and-rolls,” Charania wrote on April 29.
With Charania reporting Durant’s frustration and his history of asking for trades, asking for a move to the Warriors wouldn’t be the most surprising outcome.
Kevin Durant Could Still Bring Scoring to the Warriors
When Durant joined the Golden State Warriors, it nearly made them unbeatable. In two of his three seasons playing with the team, the 14-time All-Star won two championships. The pairing of Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green formed one of the best lineups in NBA history.
In 2016-2017, the Warriors posted the third-highest net rating in NBA history at 11.6.
More than five years after playing his last game for the Warriors, Durant’s still an elite scorer. He averaged an impressive 27.1 points per game this season, shooting 52.3% from the field and 41.3% from three-point range on 5.4 attempts per game. Despite being older, adding that to the Warriors should only improve an offense that already finished top 10 in offensive rating in 2023-24.
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