Heat Approaching Kevin Durant Pursuit With Caution

While ESPN’s Shams Charania listed the Heat among the teams with interest in the former MVP, the Herald report suggests Miami is proceeding with caution, intrigued by the possibility, but hesitant to overpay.

Durant, 35, is drawing interest from several teams, as we relayed here. That most notably includes the Spurs, Rockets, Heat, Timberwolves and Knicks. Additional suitors have reportedly reached out in the past 7–10 days, with trade talks expected to intensify ahead of the NBA Draft on June 26.

This isn’t the first time the Heat have pursued Durant. Miami attempted to land him in previous trade cycles and may now have the right combination of assets to do so.

That includes promising rookie center Kel’el Ware — a player the Suns are believed to covet –and Duncan Robinson’s partially guaranteed contract, which could help Phoenix clear more than $20 million off its books and drop below the NBA’s second tax apron.

Still, there’s no guarantee Ware would be made available in a potential deal. The Heat are known for playing the long game, and Miami’s front office may prefer to hold on to young talent rather than gut the roster for a 35-year-old star on a short-term contract.

That raises a bigger question in South Florida: Do the Heat suddenly have too many young players? Long seen as a veteran-heavy team, Miami now finds itself navigating a roster packed with developmental pieces and incoming draft picks.

“It’s a good question, certainly having a lot of young players,” said Heat VP of basketball operations Adam Simon said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We’ve been here on the other side, where we were told we were told we didn’t have enough young players.”

The Heat hold the No. 20 pick in this year’s draft and are reportedly exploring trade options. But their cap situation remains tight, with Bam Adebayo on a max contract and Tyler Herro potentially on the verge of one.

Starting Oct. 1, Herro will be eligible for a three-year, $149.7 million extension. If no deal is reached by Oct. 20, he could sign for four years and $206.9 million next offseason. Either scenario would complicate Miami’s efforts to add another high-salary player — especially one like Durant, who is eligible to sign a two-year, $112 million extension starting July 6.

Durant averaged 27.1 points and appeared in 75 games this past season.

A source told Hoops Wire that Durant prefers a trade to the Spurs.