San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets 'fit that bill' for Kevin Durant trade candidates, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst

Kevin Durant has been part of some high-profile moves to new teams over the past decade in the NBA. However, at this point in his career, there are aspects that complicate what could be his next one this summer out of Phoenix.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported the latest on what could be a deal made for Durant on ‘Get Up’ on Thursday morning. He noted the pair of financial issues, paired with his age, that could make it difficult, let alone a risk, to make a trade for Durant with what they’d have to give up initially and then what they’d have to pay from there.

“Well, there’s a couple of things we have to remember here,” Windhorst said. “Number one, we have to remember that Kevin Durant makes $55 million and, to put a trade like that together, you’re going to need a significant number of high-dollar players. And so, when you’re looking at Durant’s choices, if he’s truly going to be able to get a say here, you have to have a good team on the other side of a Durant trade that he would be interested in. The second thing is that he only has one year left on his contract, so as he chooses which team he may favor, it may come down to which one of these teams has interest in giving him a $100 million contract extension he is eligible for. So you have to compute that.”

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on five teams that have interest, among other ‘wild-cards’, in the Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs. In his discussion this morning, Windhorst said the two teams in Texas — Houston and San Antonio — make the most sense from that financial standpoint he talked about.

“Once I’ve said all that, point out the teams that fit that bill the most are teams like San Antonio and Houston, who could make this trade and, on the other side of it, have a roster that could compete for the highest stuff in the league,” Windhorst said. “But, those teams are on different timelines because those teams are built with players in their mid to early 20s, whereas Durant is 37. It may not fit the same timeline where they would invest $100 million into him.”

New York also came up several times, with Durant having considered a move to The Mecca before in his career. Still, Windhorst felt that was a lot for the Knicks to potentially be giving up, even for Durant.

“I definitely think he’s got interest in the Knicks. He has interest in the Knicks going back six, seven years when he was a free agent in 2019. He chose the Nets but he’s got interest in the Knicks,” Windhorst said. “The reality is this. You’re either trading an in your prime, All-NBA player, under long-term, controlled contract, in Karl Towns or, to make the math work and make it a legal trade, you’re probably trading three rotation players, two high-level rotation players like an OG Anunoby and a Mitchell Robinson, something like that.”

“So you have to look at it, if you’re the Knicks? Again, on the other side of trading for a $55 million player, are you ready to compete for the whole thing now, instantly? He’s 37. You’re not building. You can get different opinions on that,” Windhorst said. “I would just say, do not disregard an in his 20s, All-NBA player that Karl Towns is. That’s not a player that you can easily find. They’ve invested a lot in him. And, that’s the type of trade that you’d have to make and, you know, All-NBA player for All-NBA player? You know, I don’t know. I don’t know if you’d automatically win that trade.”

Durant just finished his 18th season in the association with the Phoenix Suns. He’d average 26.6 points (52.7% FG, 43% 3PT), 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game. However, it was his first mostly-healthy year in several where he didn’t earn any major accolades like MVP, All-NBA, or All-Star. The Suns’ poor season, going 36-46, was part of that, with dysfunction including possible deals during the season for Durant and Bradley Beal.

There’s much to consider for all of these possible suitors for Durant. That could make this process draw out a little further if they, or any other teams, decide they want to get into the mix for the future Hall of Famer.

“This is complicated and I expect other teams that were not on this list to remain in the bidding here,” Windhorst said. “This could go a number of different directions.”