“This Team It Set”: Amid Kevin Durant Trade Rumors, Former Warrior Denies Potential OKC Thunder Reunion

One big question going into the NBA offseason is what will happen to Kevin Durant. The 15-time All-Star ended an ugly run with the Phoenix Suns, who didn’t even qualify for this year’s Play-In tournament despite having his talents and Devin Booker. Retired NBA star Matt Barnes weighed in on this topic on the latest edition of his All The Smoke podcast.

Barnes was joined on the show by NBA superfan Geno, who guessed that KD would end up on either the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors, or a reunion with his first team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While ESPN’s Sham Charania believes that Durant is not interested in returning to the Warriors, Barnes believes that he won’t consider joining Thunder either if offered a deal.

“I don’t think so,” said the former Warriors player. When Geno inquired as to why Barnes thought Durant would steer clear of OKC, the 45-year-old broke down why the current Thunder team is too good to break apart at this point in time.

“Too young,” stated Barnes. “Too young. Who would you give up to get a KD? Would you give up a young Jalen Williams? Would you give up a Chet, someone who has been huge for them offensively and defensively? 

These are good questions to ask. Durant is a generational player, and an argument could be made that he has one of the greatest basketball minds of all time.

But the Thunder is one win away from going to the NBA Finals, where they’ll either meet the Knicks or the Pacers. Two teams that are quite skilled, but don’t lack the depth of weapons that OKC has. “I think they have a lot of pieces. This team is too young to do any kind of adjustments,” added Barnes.“I think outside of that this team is set for the next handful of years.”

Durant is now 36 and still very much playing at a peak level. For some reason, he, Booker, Bradley Beal, and the entire Suns organization never clicked the way they should have. And that’s okay. His talents will be useful for a certain team that still needs one more piece to get over the top.

However, Barnes brings up a good point in general. What will an organization give up to put Durant on the roster? The Knicks are another rumored landing spot for KD, but even there, the question remains the same: who does the team part ways with to add a 36-year-old who’s nearing the end of his career? It’s a tough spot for both NBA teams and Durant himself.

Someone will eventually make an offer. Whoever does will be adding one of the best basketball players of all time.

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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