For the sixth consecutive summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves are entering what could be described as the most important offseason in franchise history.
After advancing to the Western Conference Finals in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history, the Wolves enter the summer with more questions than answers after a five-game dud against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Anthony Edwards’ ascent to superstardom is the one box that’s already checked for new owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore.
The rest is a mystery box.
Julius Randle has a $31 million player option, and Naz Reid can opt out of the last year of his contract. Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a free agent. Mike Conley is 37 years old. Chris Finch is on the New York Knicks’ coaching radar. And Terrence Shannon Jr., Rob Dillingham, Jaylen Clark, and Leonard Miller are still young wild cards. With all of this uncertainty, the really crazy thing to do would be to trade for Kevin Durant.
Durant has been at the top of the trade market since he helped destroy the Phoenix Suns’ will to live before this season’s trade deadline. It’s an open secret around the NBA that the Timberwolves made a strong play for Durant at the deadline in February. However, they never put the package together to get Mat Ishbia to give up on the future Hall of Famer. According to reports, the Wolves, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, Knicks, and a few possible wild-card teams are all vying to become Durant’s next home.
Kevin Durant putting on a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey would be a dream come true for anyone who has watched Durant turn himself into one of the best players in NBA history over the last two decades. Durant is a two-time NBA champion and Finals MVP. He has 15 All-Star appearances and 11 All-NBA teams to his name.
Durant has scored the eighth-most points in NBA history and has put together one of the best careers in the history of the game since the Seattle SuperSonics drafted him second overall in 2007. He has four Olympic gold medals and is Anthony Edwards’ favorite player.
And the Timberwolves should avoid trading for him with the same enthusiasm they avoided drafting Steph Curry in 2009.
Kevin Durant will be 37 when the 2025-26 season begins, marking his 18th season on the court. By bringing Durant into the fold, Tim Connelly immediately shrinks Anthony Edwards’ championship timeline to however long Durant can still be an elite two-way scoring machine — one to two years, maybe three if Minnesota is lucky. Not to mention Durant only has one year left on his contract and could escape to wherever he wants to finish his career next summer for nothing.
Looking at how his tenure with every team he’s ever played for ended should be an immediate non-starter for a franchise trying to cling to any sustained success and winning culture it can muster.
He jumped ship after the 73-win Golden State Warriors came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat his Oklahoma City Thunder, the only team he had played for. Durant led the Warriors to back-to-back championships and cemented the dynasty. But things deteriorated at the end of his tenure, and Durant fled to Brooklyn to team up with Kyrie Irving.
Durant played 129 games before things grew stale, and he thought Phoenix would solve his problems. Two-plus seasons with the Suns, finishing in a first-round sweep last year at the hands of the Timberwolves and a catastrophic 36-win season this year, and Durant is yet again looking elsewhere for basketball salvation.
Durant’s individual game has hardly slipped from his MVP form in the 2010s. He averaged 26.6 points, six rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 62 games last year on 52.7/43/83.9 shooting splits. He’s still among the best scoring forwards in the league and hasn’t let several debilitating injuries drain his natural abilities. Durant would slot in beautifully next to Ant as an upgrade to his current running mate Devin Booker, creating one of the best two-way one-two punches in the NBA. He’d be a souped-up Jaden McDaniels who can hit a corner three when the money is on the line.
Still, any realistic trade package that begins with Jaden McDaniels or Naz Reid should be an automatic hang-up for Connelly. McDaniels and Reid showed their warts in the playoffs, but they’re still young foundational blocks.
McDaniels is exactly 12 years younger than Durant and has shown flashes of his Scottie Pippen to Ant’s Michael Jordan upside through his five years in the NBA. Naz Reid is a two-way folk legend in Minnesota who might as well be part of the family.
Julius Randle could be a trade chip if he opts in or signs a new deal in Minnesota. He showed his value to winning after returning from an injury late in the season and through the playoffs before his shortcomings got the best of him in the Oklahoma City series. People have included Rob Dillingham in most mock trades, but the Wolves will need a point guard who isn’t 37 (Conley) and doesn’t drive-and-kick to the wrong team (Donte DiVincenzo).
That leaves a package built around Rudy Gobert, Divincenzo, and some combination of Conley, picks, and whatever young talent might interest Phoenix. This type of package, hoping the Suns have been studying the gospel of Nico Harrison that defense wins championships, likely won’t get Durant to Minnesota.
Kevin Durant is a world-class talent, and there is no denying he is one of the faces of the NBA and an all-time great. Courting Durant in the trade market will be the talk of NBA circles this summer. Still, the Timberwolves should stay out of it and hold their course. Anthony Edwards will be 24 at the start of next season, and his window is wide open for a decade plus. There’s no reason to muck that up, not even for one of the 20 best players the game has ever seen.