'Not an Open Market': Amid Kevin Durant Trade Rumors, Brian Windhorst Opens Up on Difficulties Surrounding Potential Deals

A big story going into the 2025–2026 season is what uniform Kevin Durant will be wearing. The 15-time All-Star is expected to be dealt away from the Suns after Phoenix’s disastrous campaign, in which they finished 12th in the Western Conference standings, far from even the Play-In positions. However, this is not a typical trade situation.

Durant, though still a superstar, is now 36 years old. Despite remaining one of the league’s most elite scorers, he’s no longer as valuable as he once was. And that’s only half the problem. The two-time NBA champion is also being very selective about his next destination, which makes it even harder for the Suns to broker a deal.

KD reportedly prefers San Antonio, Miami, or Houston — teams he believes can make deep playoff runs with him on the roster. Famed analyst Brian Windhorst addressed this on today’s episode of NBA on ESPN, pulling back the curtain on the reality of Durant’s trade talks.

“The market is not an open market,” said Windy. “It’s not like there’s 10 teams bidding and the Suns can just pit guys against each other and take the best offer. Because Durant wants to direct where he wants to go and because some of the teams that Durant is interested in are motivated to limit what they can offer, it’s difficult to get the triangle into alignment.”

As great as Durant has been for the league, this particular phase of his career has been somewhat underwhelming. Aside from winning gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the future Hall of Famer hasn’t led any team (Brooklyn and Phoenix) to meaningful success since his Golden State stint ended in 2019. So, the fact that he’s being this selective speaks volumes about the kind of power players like KD still wield. Ideally, it should come down to whichever team gives Phoenix the best offer. That’s just how business in the NBA works.

However, we live in a vastly different world. “The Suns obviously want to do this by the draft,” added Windhorst. “First, if you are going to trade for Kevin Durant, you’re probably going to have to make other adjustments to your roster to fit next to Durant, and you want to have the entire transaction season to do so.”

“Secondly, if you’re trading for a draft pick, you want to be able to execute that pick on draft night itself,” the 47-year-old TV personality explained. But just because the Suns would like to get the Durant drama resolved by the draft doesn’t mean they will, or even have to. Windhorst made that clear as well: “If they don’t like their offers, they don’t have to do it by the draft.”

So, where will Durant end up? Skip Bayless recently suggested that San Antonio would be a fitting landing spot for the former Thunder, Warriors, Nets, and Suns star. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Skip take without stirring up a bit of controversy. This time? He called KD “semi-retired.”

“I believe he’s mentally, psychologically, and emotionally semi-retired when it comes to prioritizing goals. He wants to continue to work hard on his craft as a shooter, but he no longer has as his primary goal leading a team to a championship,” Skip said on his podcast.

Wherever Durant lands, hopefully, it’s with a team he’s genuinely passionate about winning for. This past season, it felt like he may have lost a bit of his competitive edge, despite putting up terrific numbers. Or maybe he’s just starting to see basketball for what it is: a game, one part of a much bigger world.