Power ranking potential Kevin Durant trade packages

ESPN's Shams Charania recently reported Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns are working on finding a new team for the future Hall of Famer. The Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks reportedly have significant interest in Durant, who averaged 26.6 points, six rebounds and 4.2 assists in 62 games this season. 

Below are predictions for offers from those teams and our power rankings of them.

Because of the Suns' salary-cap situation, they cannot aggregate multiple salaries in a deal, so Durant is the only outgoing player from Phoenix in each deal. We also focused on two-team trades instead of involving three or four teams because that can get much more complex.

All these trades work in this trade machine. 

5) Minnesota Timberwolves

The offer: Center Rudy Gobert, guard Donte DiVincenzo, guard Rob Dillingham, pick Nos. 17 and 31 in the 2025 draft for Durant

The T'Wolves bring up the rear in these power rankings because Minnesota doesn't have much flexibility in what it can offer in a direct trade with the Suns. It doesn't have a lot of draft capital to offer, either. Thus, it pretty much comes down to how the Suns value Gobert and Dillingham. The former is a Hall of Fame-level rim protector and a G-League-level lob threat, making him one of the more divisive players in the NBA. Plus, he has a massive contract. 

Dillingham was the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft, but he didn't even dress for the playoffs and is one of the smallest players in the league at 6-foot-3 and 176 pounds. Unless KD is absolutely begging to play with his protege, Anthony Edwards, it's tough to imagine the Suns valuing this offer over the others.

4) Miami Heat

The offer: Forward Andrew Wiggins, forward Duncan Robinson, center Kel'el Ware, pick No. 20 in the 2025 draft and a 2029 first-round pick for Durant

Ware flashed a ton of potential in his rookie season and the Heat's unprotected picks could be extremely valuable. The only issue for the Suns is that Wiggins, Robinson, Ware and the 20th pick probably wouldn't help them win a lot of games in 2025-26, and Phoenix already traded the swap rights to its 2026 pick, so this wouldn't align with the comments owner Mat Ishbia has made about not tanking. Obviously, if the Heat were to offer more draft capital — say, a 2031 first-round pick — then it might be too good to pass on for Phoenix.

3) San Antonio Spurs

The offer: Forward Harrison Barnes, guard Devin Vassell, pick Nos. 14 and 38 in 2025 draft, 2026 first-round pick (with swap rights with Atlanta Hawks) for Durant

The Spurs have a pile of additional picks over the next six drafts, but this is good deal for a superstar in the final years of his career. Vassell is a solid starter with upside, Barnes can help the Suns win games immediately and the three picks should yield at least one more good rotation piece. 

The Spurs could always sweeten the deal with more draft picks if they really  want Durant, but that would go against their usual franchise building-from-within ways. They could also trump everyone's offer by making guard and Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle available, but that would be insane.

2) New York Knicks

The offer: Forward Karl-Anthony Towns, center Ariel Hukporti and a 2030 first-round pick for Durant

Who is Hukporti? No idea, but the Knicks must exercise their team option on his contract and include him in the deal to make the money work. This offer is intriguing for two reasons: It appeases Booker as he and KAT are college teammates and good friends. Plus, the Knicks are still a dumpster fire at the ownership level (see their coaching search), so there's a decent chance they'll be in the lottery again by 2030. It also works because Towns, for all his flaws, is an All-NBA-caliber big man. A team with him and Booker should at least be competitive as Phoenix retools its roster.

1) Houston Rockets

The offers: 1. Guard Jalen Green, forward Dillon Brooks and a return of Phoenix's 2027 first-round pick for Durant

OR

2. Guard Fred VanVleet, forward Tari Eason, forward Cam Whitmore and pick No. 10 in 2025 draft for Durant

OR

3. Center Alperen Sengun, guard Reed Sheppard, center Jock Landale and guard Nate Williams for Durant

The funny part about this exercise is that it's like doing AP calculus trying to piece together salaries to match Durant's salary with the other four teams, but it's simple addition when it comes to the Rockets. There are numerous ways to make this deal with Houston work for KD, which is one of the reasons the Rockets take the top spot here. Another reason is they own Phoenix's pick in the next draft, the 2027 draft and their swap rights in the 2029 draft, so the Suns probably value regaining control of at least one of those picks over any other asset on the board. 

Bonus three-team deal: Any one of these three Houston deals is logical for both teams, but the most interesting from the Rockets' perspective would be the third option. That's because it could be expanded to a three-team deal in which the Rockets would send guard Jalen Green to the Brooklyn Nets for center Nic Claxton and forward Drew Timme. That would leave Durant surrounded by a bunch of young, hungry pit bulls (VanFleet, Eason, Claxton, Whitmore, Jabari Smith Jr., Dillon Brooks and Amen Thompson). 

That roster might even put fear into the OKC Thunder!