Siegel's Scoop: Kevin Durant, Trae Young futures in question after trade deadline
Yesterday at 01:10 PM
There is really no way to describe what happened at the 2025 NBA trade deadline. A total of 10 different players with at least one championship were traded, and nine different All-Stars now find themselves on new teams, headlined by Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis. On top of all the trades, no storyline was greater than the one that surrounded the Phoenix Suns and Kevin Durant.
Weeks before the trade deadline, there were zero indications that the Suns were even thinking about hearing offers for either Devin Booker or Durant. While Bradley Beal was the man subject of trade rumors regarding the Miami Heat and a possible swap for Jimmy Butler, no real deal ever developed.
Beal, who owns a full no-trade clause, was not prepared to be moved in the middle of the season to a team he didn’t want to be on. Despite pressure coming from the Suns in efforts to try and pair Butler with Booker and Durant, Beal held firm on his stance.
With no path to moving Beal, the Suns began having real internal discussions about Durant’s immediate future with the organization, multiple league sources briefed on the matter told ClutchPoints. For the first time since acquiring him from the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix was receiving interest from teams in Durant and they were actively listening to offers coming their way, the strongest coming from the Golden State Warriors.
In the aftermath of the Doncic-Davis trade, which shifted the entire dynamic of this year’s trade deadline, the Warriors ramped up their pursuit of a second superstar to pair with Stephen Curry. Calls made to the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks regarding LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, respectively, were quickly turned down. The same can’t be said about the calls made to Phoenix, sources said, as a level of willingness to negotiate presented itself each time.
Although the Suns remained adamant about wanting to keep Durant, something changed.
Between Phoenix actively engaging in trade conversations with Golden State and the Warriors showing genuine interest in a reunion with Durant, the possibility of the two-time Finals MVP being traded grew into a scenario rival teams around the league were preparing for.
All of a sudden, the Heat were involved in three-team discussions with the Suns and Warriors. That is when the framework of a potential massive trade deadline deal gained serious momentum. League sources told ClutchPoints that such a deal formed late Tuesday night, which would have resulted in Durant returning to the Warriors, Wiggins going to the Heat, and Butler going to Phoenix.
Only Stephen Curry was excluded from trade conversations for the Warriors in their pursuit of Durant, sources said. Owner Joe Lacob, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., and Golden State’s front office were willing to do whatever it took to bring Durant back to the Bay Area.
Even with some in the Suns’ organization, including owner Mat Ishbia, being hesitant about making such a drastic change in the middle of the season, multiple league sources claimed these trade talks were progressing to the point where stipulations of draft picks and certain specifications were being worked on.
When Durant heard that trade talks were nearing a point of no return, he quickly ended everything.
Negotiations between all sides fell through on Wednesday morning after Durant made it very clear to the Suns that he not only didn’t have any desire to return to the Warriors, but also wanted to remain in Phoenix. Durant, who doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract, essentially shut down all talks the Suns were holding with Golden State and other teams that had inquired about the multi-time All-Star.
Durant, Booker, and Beal remain in Phoenix past the trade deadline and will attempt to achieve their only goal of winning a championship. But the trade deadline brought grave consequences for the Suns moving forward, as it now seems inevitable, more than ever, that trade conversations regarding Durant will be explored in full during the offseason.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints’ daily NBA newsletter now!
Kevin Durant, Trae Young to dominate offseason trade rumors
When Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Warriors following the 2015-16 season, it never seemed like he would spend the rest of his career with Golden State. This was nothing more than an opportunity for two legends, Durant and Curry, to play alongside one another and compete for championships due to a financial loophole the NBA soon after adjusted.
Long story short, Durant and the Warriors were always going to be a short-term relationship.
It didn’t seem like that was going to be the case between Durant and the Nets when he joined forces with Kyrie Irving in 2020, yet a multitude of factors resulted in Brooklyn’s demise.
Now here we are in the Durant-era for the Suns, one that has been shadowed by the same feelings as several years ago when the former league MVP joined the Warriors. Phoenix was a destination that Durant specifically chose and one some believed would be the final stop of his career.
In the aftermath of the trade deadline, his three-year stint with the Suns is suddenly beginning to look a lot like the three years he spent with Golden State. The only difference is that Durant left the Warriors with two championships in three trips to the NBA Finals. The future Hall of Famer may end up leaving Phoenix after winning only one playoff series during his tenure, depending on what happens this season.
What does the future hold for Durant, especially since he will be turning 37 years old in September?
The now 14-time All-Star still has one more year left on his contract at $54.7 million for the 2025-26 season. Of course, all the noise about him leaving Phoenix could be put to bed if he was to agree to an extension, but what transpired at the trade deadline with the Suns discussing the possibility of moving Durant without consulting him has completely shifted the direction of this franchise.
There is a clear divide in trust between Durant’s situation and that of Beal’s. Whether or not Ishbia and the Suns can smooth things over is the storyline now, especially after reports that the team’s shootaround on Thursday was “awkward” and the word “toxic” is being thrown around, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Is this the type of energy that will exist in Phoenix for the rest of the season?
Durant was not happy that he was involved in very real trade conversations. This is not going to just disappear, and the rest of the league knows this. Only a few months remain in the 2024-25 season, and league sources indicate that teams are beginning to get a sense that Durant’s time with the Suns is ending.
Should Durant request a trade in the offseason with just one more year remaining on his contract, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks will loom large in conversations. League sources say both teams inquired about Durant in the week leading up to the trade deadline and both organizations make a lot of sense as potential suitors.
The Rockets are a young, rising team in the Western Conference with an abundance of recent lottery picks and future draft capital, most coming from Phoenix. Then there are the Mavs, who made one of the craziest trades of all time by acquiring Davis for Doncic in a win-now situation. It is worth mentioning that Irving and Davis are two of Durant’s close friends.
Nico Harrison has made it abundantly clear that Dallas is going to be in a win-now situation and he wants to seize a championship immediately after trading Doncic to prove that he didn’t completely screw up the Mavericks franchise for the next few decades.
In addition to all the talk that is forthcoming about Durant and the Suns, Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks are another very intriguing situation to highlight after the trade deadline.
It truly seems like the Hawks have once again shifted directions as a franchise. Since Jalen Johnson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, the Hawks have gone 1-6 overall and barely holding onto a play-in tournament spot. To make matters worse, Atlanta doesn’t own their 2025 first-round pick, so the idea of “tanking” after trading away De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic doesn’t make all that much sense.
Caris LeVert and Clint Capela are two veteran players on expiring contracts who will free up enough money to compensate for Johnson’s recent extension, which will kick in when the 2025-26 season starts. Georges Niang and Terance Mann are solid secondary talents, yet it is hard to see them making as great an impact as Hunter was this year.
Essentially, this trade deadline was all about cost management for the Hawks. Money will be coming off the books, allowing Atlanta to have flexibility moving forward. While this is a great long-term approach, it surely signals that Young’s time with the franchise is in question.
The three-time All-Star point guard has two more years left on his current contract, owning a 48.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season, and he will be 27 in September. By trading away Hunter, who is 27, the Hawks have signaled that they want to become younger, faster, and more agile with their young core of Onyeka Okongwu, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, and Johnson, all of whom are 24 or younger.
Young was mentioned in trade rumors this past offseason, mainly regarding the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. He will once again be the subject of offseason trade talks for teams looking to pursue an All-Star guard.
After all, Young switched agencies last May, leaving Klutch Sports to join CAA. Nobody around the league would be shocked if Atlanta is about to undergo a massive change in scenery.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints’ daily NBA newsletter now!
Biggest trade deadline takeaways
The Los Angeles Lakers are the clear-cut winner of the NBA trade deadline. Aside from adding Luka Doncic, which will change the Lakers’ entire future in the post-LeBron James era that will begin the next couple of seasons, Rob Pelinka also hit the nail on the head by acquiring Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets.
Williams is a very athletic big man with a 9’9″ standing reach and a near 7’7″ wingspan. Yes, you read all of that correctly. Doncic has always found the most success with athletic lob threats, and he now has an emerging 23-year-old center who has been one of the league’s most improved talents this season.
Before pulling the trigger on a deal for Williams, which was negotiated with the Hornets over the span of just a couple of days, the Lakers checked in on various frontcourt options. Robert Williams III, Myles Turner, and Jericho Sims were three key talking points for Los Angeles, sources said. The team also checked in on Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl and even tried to take a big swing at Detroit Pistons Jalen Duren, yet the asking prices for both players were too steep.
Veteran options like Nikola Vucevic and Jonas Valanciunas were viewed as early trade deadline targets for the Lakers, sources said. The organization didn’t circle back before making a deal for Williams.
Although health is a slight concern for the Lakers’ new center, Williams will be well taken care of by Los Angeles’ top-notch medical staff and trainers. Pelinka and the entire organization are very excited to see Williams take the floor with Doncic and LeBron.
The team Williams was traded from, the Hornets, are also clear winners of the trade deadline. Charlotte and its new front office, led by general manager Jeff Peterson, have a clear vision for finding and sustaining future success. Peterson, who comes from the front office tree of Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder, is taking a page out of his mentor’s book by acquiring future assets to begin their rebuild.
Charlotte had a plethora of draft assets heading into the trade deadline, and they have added six more draft picks to their collection, along with Dalton Knecht and veteran big man Jusuf Nurkic. It will take some time, but Peterson has turned assets with declining value into a bright future for his franchise.
While they are not winners or losers of the trade deadline, the Warriors are a team that is kind of stuck in the middle. As good as Jimmy Butler can be, how well does he fit on the court and in the locker room next to Draymond Green and Stephen Curry?
Golden State needed to add some firepower to their lineup in order to have any chance of making the playoffs in the Western Conference this season, which is why adding Butler was a desperation move after failing to get Durant.
Sources said the Warriors did explore other avenues on the trade market outside of pursuing Butler. Vucevic was the team’s top trade option to upgrade their production at the center position, yet the Chicago Bulls maintained a very high asking price for the 34-year-old. The Bulls, sources said, were said to want a lightly protected first-round pick and additional second-round pick from the Warriors.
This wasn’t a price Golden State or any other team around the league wanted to pay for Vucevic.
The Warriors also explored other, smaller moves for secondary talents with the expiring contracts of Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney. However, these two veterans are well-respected players the organization values, and the initial hope is that the Warriors will be able to retain both veterans in the offseason on smaller deals.
Giving up Andrew Wiggins for Butler was a very tough decision to make. Many were frustrated to see Wiggins leave, including head coach Steve Kerr, sources said. That is the nature of the business, though, and Wiggins ended up having to be the player who needed to be sacrificed in order for Golden State to try and move forward. Amid a level of hesitance to make such a drastic change, Curry is excited for what’s to come.
“We expect to have a motivated, committed Jimmy that’s ready to impact our team for the better,” Curry said recently. “Gotta work out the kinks of what it looks like. I’m excited to get to work and kind of feed off the energy of something new, and somebody that’s had, obviously, experience at the highest of levels.
“Has a lot to prove in a new situation and we’re gonna try to help each other do that.”
While Butler will slide into Wiggins’ spot on the wing, sources said Moses Moody is expected to see his role increase during the second half of the season. Moody has taken a step forward in his fourth season with the organization, and he is a player Kerr really trusts on both ends of the court.
When the Warriors gave Moody his contract extension before the 2024-25 season, they did so viewing him as a younger version of what Wiggins was. The 22-year-old is a reliable wing with room to grow in order to reach his full potential as a player who can realistically play anywhere on the court.
Outside of the Lakers, Hornets, and Warriors, perhaps the most underrated trade from Thursday came when the Hawks moved De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is a fantastic move for the Cavs, who finally found the 3-and-D wing that they’ve been seeking since the trade deadline last season.
The Cavs now have a starting group of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Hunter. Many point to the Boston Celtics as having the best starting rotation in the NBA, but this is right up there with them.
Cleveland is a legitimate championship contender that got significantly better at the trade deadline.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints’ daily NBA newsletter now!
Latest buyout market intel
With the NBA trade deadline behind us, all eyes now shift to what will be a very underwhelming and small buyout market compared to the ones we’ve seen in years past.
Still, there are notable names to discuss such as Ben Simmons, Bruce Brown, Malcolm Brogdon, and maybe some other surprises.
Simmons is the biggest name that will be hitting the buyout market in a matter of days, league sources confirmed to ClutchPoints that the Brooklyn Nets are actively looking to finalize a buyout with the former first-overall pick. Once he is bought out and clears waivers, any team below the first and second aprons will be eligible to sign Simmons.
Right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers, and Houston Rockets are the three teams linked to the 6’10” point guard.
Despite his struggles and injury history, Simmons could really help all three teams showing strong interest in him. After all, Simmons is still a versatile defender who would be a key secondary facilitator in these teams’ playoff pursuits.
As for Brown, a buyout for him appears unlikely at this time. After being traded from the Toronto Raptors to the New Orleans Pelicans in the deal that sent Brandon Ingram to Toronto, Brown is not currently seeking a buyout, league sources told ClutchPoints. Soon after, Jake Fischer also confirmed this report.
If anything were to change and the Pelicans did reach a buyout with Brown, he would instantly become a key win-now talent with championship experience that various playoff teams would want to add. The Denver Nuggets, who hold strong interest in a reunion with Brown, wouldn’t be allowed to sign him in this scenario since they are an over-the-apron team.
Like Brown, Brogdon is also expected to stay where he is with the Washington Wizards for the time being. The Clippers are a team being linked to Brogdon if he was to be bought out. Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart are two other veteran players who will remain with the Wizards through the conclusion of the 2024-25 season after being dealt there before the trade deadline.
Other names to consider in what is going to be a thin buyout market are PJ Tucker, Marvin Bagley III, Reggie Jackson, and potentially Seth Curry, depending on what Charlotte decides to do with its young roster.
While he is not expected to be bought out, various teams in the Western Conference are monitoring Larry Nance Jr.’s status with the Hawks. Since he is making $11.2 million in the final year of his contract, Nance would be allowed to sign with any team. The veteran forward would hold a significant market if he were to leave Atlanta.
The Boston Celtics already made the first post-trade deadline move by signing Torrey Craig to a contract after he was recently waived by the Bulls.
Want more of this content? Sign up for ClutchPoints’ daily NBA newsletter now!
The post Siegel’s Scoop: Kevin Durant, Trae Young futures in question after trade deadline appeared first on ClutchPoints.
