Ever since Kevin Durant left the Golden State Warriors when he was traded by the Dubs to the Brooklyn Nets in 2019, the future Hall of Famer has never come close to tasting an NBA championship again. Durant was expected to seriously contend for a title this season with the Phoenix Suns , as he played alongside stars like Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. However, their NBA title dreams went up in flames after getting embarrassed in the first round by Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves
Maybe a return to Golden State and a reunion with Stephen Curry is what Durant needs to become an NBA champ again.
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole recently noted a potential key event that could help decide the future of Durant in Phoenix and of his career. Durant and Curry are both part of the the United States squad that will play in the 2024 Paris Olympics and the time they will spend together could be an eye-opener for KD.
Any moves the Warriors make this summer will be out of extreme urgency to maximize the Curry window. In short, adding a plug-and-play star.
Durant and Curry will reunite in July as members of Team USA. Kerr is the head coach. Assuming no movement in the interim, they will have almost six weeks to engage in conversation and reminiscence.
Getting Durant back to Golden State is going to be a tricky one. For one, he will not be a free agent until the end of the 2025-26 NBA campaign. He could ask the Suns to trade him, but convincing Phoenix to send him to a divisional rival could be a tough ask. However, the Suns don’t have plenty of draft assets in the coming years so perhaps that can be a leverage for a potential trade involving Durant and the Warriors.
In three seasons with the Warriors, Durant averaged 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists across 208 games.
After his stint with the Warriors during which he won two NBA titles and a pair of NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards, he played in a superteam setup with the Brooklyn Nets, with Kyrie Irving and James Harden flanking him. However, the experiment in Brooklyn did not result in an NBA title. Durant was then traded by the Nets to the Suns in 2023 together with TJ Warren for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, and some picks.
