Wolves’ Kevin Durant trade offer would be a huge overpay if true

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The Wolves should be careful not to put too much on the table for Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant is going to be traded, and it could happen at any minute. The Phoenix Suns have been parsing through offers for the superstar scorer on the brink of his 37th birthday. Durant reportedly has a preference to go to the San Antonio Spurs, and he’s also interested in joining the Miami Heat or Houston Rockets. The Minnesota Timberwolves are another team who has shown in Durant, but he reportedly doesn’t want to go there.

The Suns have been underwhelmed by the offers they’re seeing for Durant, according to reports. Houston’s offer is built around Jalen Green and the No. 10 pick, but Phoenix wants at least one more young player (Jabari Smith Jr, Reed Sheppard, or Tari Eason) in addition to getting one of its future picks back (2027 or 2029) that the Rockets own. Phoenix reportedly asked the Spurs for either the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft or Stephon Castle, and were immediately rebuffed. San Antonio’s offer is believed to be built around the No. 14 pick and either Devin Vassell or Jeremy Sochan. Miami’s offer starts with Andrew Wiggins and the No. 20 pick, with haggling expected over the inclusion of Kel’el Ware.

All of these offers are far, far less than what the Suns gave up to land Durant a few years ago, a package which included Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, four first-round picks, and two swaps. Durant is still very good, but he’s now one of the oldest players in the league as he enters Year No. 19 of his career. The fact that Durant wants a two-year, $120 million extension at his new home will also give teams pause.

The Suns are reportedly resolved to take the best trade offer for the team regardless of what Durant wants. If long-time Phoenix sports insider John Gambadoro is right, the Timberwolves have by far the strongest offer on the board. Here’s what Gambadoro said on local radio on Tuesday:

Here’s the offer:

Timberwolves get: Kevin Durant

Suns get: Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo, No. 17 pick, either Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr.

The Suns should rush to the phone immediately to accept this offer if it’s actually on the table. It’s a deal that could immediately replenish Phoenix with the assets it desperately needs. It also feels like a huge overpay for Minnesota.

The Wolves were briefly a laughingstock for their original Rudy Gobert trade with the Utah Jazz, but it’s proved to be a masterstroke in recent years. With Gobert, the Wolves have gone to the conference finals in back-to-back seasons. Don’t forget, Minnesota recently had a 14-year playoff drought in the Western Conference. They’ve found succcess with a combination of Anthony Edwards’ offensive brilliance and a lockdown defense helmed by Gobert’s rim protection.

I don’t see how trading Gobert for Durant straight-up makes the Wolves better, let alone when they add in DiVincenzo, Dillingham or Shannon Jr., and a draft pick in the teens. Who is protecting the rim for Minnesota in that scenario? Naz Reid, a pending free agent, is much more of an offensive player than a defensive player. There isn’t another playable big man on the roster. It’s possible the Wolves could fill that hole with a free agent like Clint Capela or Brook Lopez, but that’s still potentially a big step back from Gobert.

Trading this much depth is also scary, even if the Suns find a way to include Royce O’Neale in the deal. Depth has become more important than ever in the NBA Playoffs, and trading in potentially four rotation spots for a 37-year-old is a huge gamble, and not a smart one.

At the moment, including Gobert is the only way the Wolves can make a Durant trade work. If Julius Randle decides to pick up his $31 million player option, though, suddenly this deal becomes a lot more feasible.

Replace Randle with Durant in the Wolves lineup and Minnesota finally has proper spacing and more three-point shooting. Randle’s bully ball drives would be missed, but Durant’s mid-range game and extra length defensively makes up for it. Even if the Wolves can include Randle over Gobert, they should hesitate to include both the No. 17 pick and Dillingham/Shannon. The Wolves need depth if they have any hope of meeting the Thunder’s standard. The question is if that’s enough to get Phoenix to bite.

Durant deals have blown up in the face of the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns at his last two stops. Maybe Brooklyn would have won the championship with KD in 2021 if his toe wasn’t on the line in Game 7 against the Bucks, and we’d remember the end of his career differently. It just seems like KD is unhappy wherever he goes despite his love for hooping. If the Wolves put a max extension on the table, maybe he would change his mind a la Jimmy Butler going to the Warriors at this past trade deadline.

If a team trades for Kevin Durant, they need to believe they have enough to win the championship immediately. To do that, they better not trade too much.