Warriors Are Said to Want to Trade for a Four-Time All-Star…
Their early exits from the 2024 NBA postseason could propel Kevin Durant and Steph Curry to reunite in a Warriors uniform.
According to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole, the future Hall of Famers could discuss a Golden State reunion during the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they will come together as teammates for the first time since Durant left the Bay in 2019.
“Durant and Curry will reunite in July as members of Team USA. [Steve] Kerr is the head coach. Assuming no movement in the interim, they will have almost six weeks to engage in conversation and reminiscence,” wrote Poole.
The report added that the Warriors are committed to maximizing the aging Curry’s window, and therefore won’t leave any stone turned this offseason to get their franchise star a championship-level roster for next season. As such, Warriors governor Joe Lacob could be “willing to personally lay the red carpet for KD’s return.”
“A KD-Warriors reunion is not as far-fetched as it might seem,” the report added.
Poole believes the Warriors might have to trade Jonathan Kuminga, Andrew Wiggins and multiple first-round picks to Phoenix to land Durant.
While Durant has yet to ask for a trade from Phoenix, The Athletic reported on April 29 that Durant never saw eye-to-eye with Suns coach Frank Vogel during their disastrous 2024 campaign which ended with a first-round sweep.
“Sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic that Durant never felt comfortable with his role in Phoenix’s offense alongside [Devin] Booker and [Bradley] Beal this season,” the report read. “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.”
If the Warriors do go all-in in their pursuit of Durant, a lot of things would have to work in their favor. For starters, they would have to get the blessing of Durant, who reportedly didn’t leave Golden State in the best of terms in 2019 after the infamous on-court dust-up with Draymond Green.
However, insider J. A. Adande believes Durant and Green have already mended fences and would welcome a reunion.
“They already podcasted it out,” Adande said referring to Durant and Green airing out their feelings on “The Chips” podcast in 2019. “I don’t think it will be a problem. I don’t think it would work. Can you really recreate 2018 in 2025?”
Elsewhere, others have blamed Durant for leaving Golden State in 2019. Since leaving Curry, Green and others, Durant has struggled to get out of the second round of the postseason.
On the April 29 episode of “Get Up” on ESPN, analyst Alan Hahn blamed pettiness and social media for the abrupt end to the Warriors dynasty.
“He paid way too much attention to that rather than just staying there where he was a great fit and they could’ve continued to win championships,” Hahn said of Durant. “That didn’t happen because he heard all that stuff and said, ‘I got to go somewhere else and do my own thing.’ And that somewhere else was a failure in Brooklyn and now it looks like a failure in Phoenix. He should have stayed where he was, but he listened too much to NBA Twitter. Blame NBA Twitter for the Warriors dynasty ending prematurely.”
