There are still rumors about the Golden State Warriors, but one of the craziest ideas is that Kevin Durant might come home. Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report suggested that the Warriors, the Phoenix Suns, and the Orlando Magic might deal with each other.
We will start by looking at the part of the blockbuster deal pitch that talks about the Warriors. Golden State gets Durant and Jett Howard, who was picked in the lottery by the Magic and is the son of NBA great Juwan Howard. They give up Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney, Chris Paul, Jonathan Kuinga, and two first-round picks (2026 and 2028) to the Knicks.
What do the Suns get in return for letting go of the future Hall of Famer? Phoenix gets a first-round pick in 2025 from the Nuggets, Kuminga, Podziemski, Looney, Magic guard Caleb Houstan, and two future first-round picks from the Warriors in 2026 and 2028.
What about the Magic? They finally get a senior point guard in Paul, Payton, and a second-round pick in 2028 from the Suns (through the Celtics). They sell Howard, Houstan, and a first-round pick in 2025 to Denver as part of the Aaron Gordon trade in 2021.
Let’s look into whether this huge deal in the NBA is good for the Warriors, Suns, and Magic.
It is important to note that the Suns have downplayed the possibility for trading Durant, Bradley Beal or Devin Booker this summer. Yet Phoenix has a bloated budget that has resulted in zero playoff wins this season. Bailey described the Warriors moving on from five key players for Durant as a “massive risk.”
“This may be the toughest sell of the exercise,” Bailey wrote in a May 23, 2024, story titled “A 3-Team Trade to Land Kevin Durant with the Golden State Warriors.” “Durant turns 36 in September. Giving up five rotation players (two of whom still have plenty of developmental runway) and multiple picks to reopen the window for title competition for maybe a year is a huge risk. “But Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are 36, 34 and 34, respectively. The window wasn’t going to be open long anyway. And with the built-in understanding between those three and Durant, there’s a shot for real contention as early as this coming season.”
For added context, Durant has two seasons left on a four-year, $194.2 million contract. Durant is set to have a $51.1 million cap hit for 2024–25. The Warriors would be going all-in for one final run with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson (assuming Golden State can re-sign the star).
