(Photo via azcentral.com)
Pat Riley’s dream star target could potentially be days away from coming to a reality. The Kevin Durant sweepstakes have been aggressively heating up as each day passes, and fueling the Miami Heat’s Durant speculation. And Friday’s most recent update was enough to instantly break the internet.
ESPN’s lead Senior Insider Shams Charania has reported that the Durant market has come down to three finalists— the Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Miami Heat.
It is unclear how much of KD’s preference will be the biggest factor in this deal getting done. Alongside this, the Phoenix Suns’ search for the most competitive deal for them will influence the outcome. An outcome featuring a combination of both notions could be enough to land the franchise’s biggest superstar since LeBron James in 2010.
Charania noted that this blockbuster deal could get finalized as early as this weekend.
Kevin Durant is one of the league’s most lethal scoring talents, averaging nearly 27 points on 53% shooting this past season.
Durant and Miami have circled back on each other several times over the years. Riley was at the finish line of getting a deal done at this trade deadline for Phoenix’s 15-time All-Star. Those discussions, according to Barry Jackson, reportedly ended when the Suns rejected the Heat’s February final offer. That attempted package included Jimmy Butler, Josh Richardson, Nikola Jovic, and one first-round draft pick.
Fast forward months later, and now the leverage is no longer in Phoenix’s favor. Durant has quietly displayed a disgruntled notion towards the Suns organization. They entertained trade offers behind his back from the beginning. Furthermore, Phoenix’s core has also failed to reach any sort of relevancy in the loaded Western Conference, which led to both parties needing to look elsewhere. Thus, another Heat Durant attempt emerges.
The 11th seed Suns missed the NBA play-in this season, which prevented them from entering the actual playoffs. This happened despite having a star-studded trio of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.
KD, even at the age of 36, remains a healthy and efficient top-10 caliber player.
It’s evident that KD is ready to settle into potentially his final destination to properly finish off his legendary career. The Heat organization could provide the stability that he has desperately needed.
However, it is unclear what trade package offer is in discussion from Riley at this juncture. But it’s been reported from several sources that they are trying their hardest to keep Kel’el Ware off the table. Virtually everybody else on the entire roster outside of the Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro duo seem expendable here.
They have several expiring contracts that could provide the Suns with desperately needed salary cap relief. Along with this, they have intriguing young pieces like Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Andrew Wiggins could also be an attractive headliner in a deal. He is someone that the Suns pursued at the deadline.
To sum it up, the Heat have assets to pull this off, hinting at whether Miami can transform those assets into a Durant acquisition.
It’s also uncertain how much draft capital exactly that Riley is willing to give up. Nonetheless, the Heat have three tradable first-round picks and pick swaps to utilize. That includes this year’s 20th pick of the June 25 NBA draft.
What exact trade package, along with Miami’s aggression to get this done, could be known within the next week.
Who would you be willing to give up for KD? Let us know in the comments!
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According to the latest rumors, Rockets have dropped out and it’s down to the Final-2, Miami and Minnesota. Suns are looking for draft capital, which I believe gives Miami the inside track.
If Heat can dump 2/3 of Wiggins/Rozier/Duncan, hopefully only 1/2 of Jovic/JJJ, and a couple draft picks, this deal is a slam dunk
Leaves the heat with a starting lineup of Mitchell-Herro-Durant-Bam-Ware, and a bench of Dru-Pelle-SloMo-Highsmith.
If that’s the case, the Heat probably keep. Jovic and trade JJJ, because Jovic is a better positional fit and JJJ has more trade value
If they do this deal you describe, I would be amazed. I do like your optimism, it would make a fun team to root for. But, hard to get your hopes up for this scenario.
Riley has proven over and over again (Dame, Durant 1.0, Beal) that he’s not going to give up too much in a trade. If the Heat do get Durant (big if) I think this is more or less how it is going to play out.
The Heat have said they won’t give up Ware, and the Suns say they are prioritizing draft capital. What do you view as a more likely trade package for the Heat to obtain Durant?
My guess would be, all our picks (3), Wiggins and Bam. And maybe Mitchell or one other.
That’s insane. Zero percent chance the Heat trade Bam for a 37-year old Durant. And less than zero percent chance they would add three picks plus Bam.
Here is an article from a Suns blog about the Heat trade:
Miami is a unique entrant because its base of salaries revolve around some combination of Duncan Robinson, Terry Rozier and Andrew Wiggins. Rozier and Robinson are on expiring while Wiggins has two years left (with a player option on the second). The Heat offer cap relief as its greatest strength to a deal, as opposed to the upside of the guys in Houston and San Antonio. Phoenix cannot have the benefit of saving money take up much of the value it’s getting back.
So, the Heat’s young talent and picks will have to really supercharge this thing. There is no turbo engine in that vehicle.
Nikola Jovic has been fine for Miami and Jaime Jaquez Jr. regressed after an impressive rookie season. Pelle Larsson was potentially a nice find in the second round and nothing more than that.
Kel’el Ware is the guy Miami will not want to give up and the Suns have to posture up for. During an aimless Heat season engulfed by Jimmy Butler drama, Ware was the bright spot, showing serious flashes as a unique two-way center in his rookie season after going 15th overall last year. To be clear, Ware wasn’t even on First Team All-Rookie amongst a fairly uninspiring crop of first-year contributions, so anointing him a future All-Star already would be quick.
Seems close to impossible to me. How can Heat package anything close to the other suitors. Why would they want to gut the roster again for an old player anyway? Makes absolutely no sense to me…with Heat sorry roster and future financial commitments in shambles. Whatever happens… Heat will be irrelevant for years.
unfort becuase of pat we will be irrelevant.for a while
Depends on what Pat does this season. There are many ways he can go. If you include Herro ($31M), Wiggins ($28.2M) and the players on expiring contracts, Rozier, Robinson, Anderson, Highsmith and Love ($65.5M), that’s nearly $125M in salary to work with, not including several young players and draft picks. At minimum, tanking teams might be happy to talk to Riley about a variety of potential trade scenarios.
If you start with a core of 7 players Mitchell, Bam and the players on rookie contracts (Ware, Jovic, Johnson, Larsson and Smith), as a core, what kind of team can Miami put together for $125M plus draft picks? Better yet, if Riley waits until after next season, he will have $65.5M in expiring contracts PLUS Wiggins, plus Herro, plus several young players on rookie contracts, plus draft picks at his disposal to work with.
This is a time for patience…not desperation.
Oops make that Jaquez instead of Smith, although I would support signing Smith to a minimum contract.
It’s odd that a lot of the people who wanted Pat fired last season are the same people that want Pat to be patient for 1-2 more seasons
Actually, I would like to see Pat retire because I know he will not be fired by Arison. Miami needs more progressive management in tune with the times. Several rebuilding teams have passed Miami up and others are on the verge of doing so.
What I don’t want is for Riley to gut the team out of a desperate effort to satisfy his ego/legacy, at the risk of seriously damaging the team’s future (long after he is gone). By waiting a year, Miami can go after one of the 2026 free agents, with cash in hand, while also being rid of this year’s expiring contracts. It would also give Riley another year to seriously consider retirement.
P.S. It would be a huge mistake for Pat to extend Herro for 3 years/$150M, even if he graduated from Riley’s alma mater.
Me too. To get Durant, we would have to outbid the Wolves because they are 15-20 games better than us. If we paid a realistic price, not what our homers want to imagine, it would decimate the team and we will be in purgatory even longer. Some fans just can’t see the reality that these recent whale hunts, particularly this one at this time, are about Pat and his ego, not the good of the team. When are we going to stop with all this foolishness?
If my screen name doesn’t make it obvious, I’ve seen the full teardown/rebuild approach, and trust me, it’s just as foolish.
That is a fair point. I don’t want that either. I want to keep everyone but Rozier and Duncan for now. Use that money on a player, a useful rotation guy. And explore trades for Herro, maybe as part of getting Rozier and Dunc off the books. And then use the old fashioned route of drafting well and then augment when appropriate method. Sure, it will take at least two years. But, I think it’s our best path to competitiveness.
Duncan may be getting paid a little more than he’s worth, but he contributes to winning basketball in a way that Rozier doesn’t. Duncan’s often been the third-best player on the team. In the long-term, it makes a lot more sense to keep him for the year and re-sign him on a cheaper contract.
As much as he was over-valued after the 2020 campaign and ran the risk of signing elsewhere if Miami didn’t pay him, I think right now he’s *under-valued* league-wide, and we can keep him for something closer to $5-$10m per year going forward.
At that rate, what we get from Duncan would be a bargain.
Not when it is done by competent management (OKC, Houston, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, San Antonio, etc.). Portland (Joe Cronin) is anything but competent. Neither is the owner, Jody Allen. Other examples of poorly run organizations are Sacramento, Phoenix, Washington and Charlotte.
Ain’t that the truth.
I don’t see it unless Pat gets really desperate and puts all of Miami’s eggs in one basket. If he’s right, it doesn’t guarantee Miami will do any better than a first round exit. If he is wrong, Miami will be in a deep hole long after he retires or is fired.
He would be wrong and it would cost us a few more years of irrelevancy. I wish Pat would step down. It’s time.
Noooooo
At the very least please get rid of Herro if you’re gonna do that
This is an idea that won’t happen. We are just being used again. There is no comparison in destinations for KD as the other two have so much more to offer him than us as far as a chance to win.
I agree. Rockets and T’Wolves have better players and draft picks to offer. They also have better playoff potential to offer as an incentive for KD to sign an extension agreement.
Team with Booker, Beal and KD won 36 games last season. Team with Bam and Herro won 37 games last season. I wonder how many will Heat win with Bam, Herro, KD and nobody else. 40?….45?…. 50?.
Even in best case scenario this is not a champion level team.
Suns were bad with KD, Nets were bad with KD, Heat would be bad with KD.
Not mention loosing young players and picks in the trade, and years of most boring basketball you can imagine.
kd on gsw on okc?.hes a top 10-15 player in history of nba.hes 36 and still playing at high level.if u have the chance of getting him w/o giving up bam or ware u do that in a heartbeat.he’d be the best player on our team easily.problem is dont have enough ammo to get him
KD failed in OKC against GSW. Then he joined GSW, already the best team at that time.
He is top 10-15 players in NBA history, agree. But he is not:
-a leader of the champion level team
-not a fun basketball player.
For the hell of it, I tried Herro and Wiggins (plus 2 firsts) for KD on ESPN Trade Machine. It worked. Note: KD is scheduled to make $56.7M next year and is eligible for a 2 year/$124M extension.
Possible Heat Line-up:
Mitchell, Burkes, KD, Bam, Ware
Smith, Larsson, Jaquez, Johnson, Jovic
Expiring Contracts/Trade Candidates
Rozier, Robinson, Anderson, Highsmith, Love ($65M+)
I wouldn’t do it. Miami would still not have an elite back court, would still not be able to compete with the NBA’s elite teams and would also not have a first round pick for several years.
Wiggins and Rozier works also. But Suns not gonna bite that. Its Bam they want. Just like everyone else.
They’ll take Ware if they can get him. Bam has 5-10 years ahead of him. KD “the mercenary” has 3. If Riley trades Ware it is because he is very desperate. Bad move. If they go back to Bam at C, he’ll be the next one to ask for a trade.
insiders say Ware is untouchable. but we’ll see
Unless Heat can get a good starting center back in return, it makes absolutely no sense to trade Ware. With Ware (C) and Bam (PF), the Heat only needs a good back-up C/PF type (e.g., Portis, Reid, Stewart, Kesler, Gafford, etc.), not a starter.
id love to watch kd play night in night out for 3 years .might be the best pure scorer in history of nba .hes 7 ft with a handle aint nobody stopping that sweet jumper.bring him in my heat genes would be very excited.after all sports is entertainment.id be very entertained
Despite his entertainment value, if Miami wasn’t in first place after 2 weeks I bet you would do the same thing Phoenix fans are doing, non-stop bitching.
Thunder’s turn for a comeback. Shai looks better when he’s not fishing too much for fouls. Hope it goes 7 games. Go Heat lol
he looks better when hes not gassed in the 4th.caruso was awesome tonight how did the lakers let him go this apron bs to harsh cant keep teams together ruining sports.
manila with the guys pat has assembled we are 3-5 years away from a chance to do anything.bad contracts bad players is how pat is going to go out
just one year haha. cross fingers
You are absolutely right Manila, if Riley handles the situation correctly. Don’t listen to heat. He’s a glass half empty* type of guy. He thinks the sky is falling even if you make it from #8 seed to the NBA Finals but don’t win it all.
Glass half-empty type:
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty, emphasizing what is missing or lacking rather than what is present. They tend to focus on the negative aspects of a situation or the potential for an undesirable outcome.
man these cats are athletic im so jealous wata game wow
benedict choked
doris burke is hard to listen to
wonder how knick fans are feeling
ind won 25 games 3 years ago then theyre gm got to work.
Detroit was 16-66 in 2023-2024. They improved by 28 games to 44-38 in 2024-2025. If there is a will, there is a way. They need someone who can shoot 3’s…someone like Herro. They have some interesting young players and a few picks available.
u overvalue ty with his d hes not worth to much,maybe a tim hardaway jr,your not getting ivy duran cats like that.again the # of shots u take directly effects pts.i say the best way to use herro is off the bench for 5 -8 mins a half.he gets worn down at the end of year hes either hurt or spent
Let’s agree to disagree.
P.S. You’re wrong.😂
Give up Dunc, Wiggs, Terry…
Meanwhile finals turning out to be very entertaining, very competitive. No blowouts. Seems Pacers and OKC are a good match up. So far.
ind has to many good 2 wayers okc in trouble.
They both have good two-way players, play intense basketball for 48 minutes and substitute frequently to keep their players fresh.