The Timberwolves Missing Out on Kevin Durant May Be a Blessing in Disguise

The Timberwolves did not land Kevin Durant as the superstar forward was traded to the Houston Rockets. That might ultimately be a good thing for the Timberwolves.

The Kevin Durant trade saga has finally come to a close.

On Sunday, just a few hours before Game 7 of the NBA Finals, which saw the Oklahoma City Thunder crowned as champions and Tyrese Haliburton suffer a disastrous Achilles injury, the Houston Rockets traded Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and five second round picks to the Phoenix Suns for Durant.

After months of rumors that the Minnesota Timberwolves would potentially be able to lure Durant to the Twin Cities, the Wolves ultimately came up short in their pursuit of the eventual Hall of Fame forward.

There are many aspects of Durant’s game, even as he enters his age-37 season, that would have been incredibly enticing for the Wolves. Durant plays with an incredible combination of size, speed, and shooting touch that is unique in the history of the NBA. His game has slowed down a bit, as it does for every player in his late 30s, but he still put up over 26 points per game last season while shooting over 52 percent from the field and 43 percent from beyond the arc.

That level of scoring ability would have fit perfectly in a Timberwolves offense that has been searching for a secondary creator next to Anthony Edwards for the past couple of seasons. It’s easy to imagine the offensive boon Edwards and the Wolves would have seen with Durant’s scoring capabilities on the roster.

Possibly the biggest reason the Wolves were interested in trading for the superstar forward is the affinity between Edwards and Durant. Growing up in Atlanta, Ant’s favorite player was Durant, a bond that only grew when the two played together for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

During the Olympics, Edwards and Durant would often share meals together, getting to know each other on a deeper level. After Team USA won gold, Durant would say, “I miss being around Ant every day,” and “it feels like he’s part of my family.”

All of that led to this summer when the Suns made it clear they were moving on from Durant, allowing the Timberwolves to potentially add KD at a price that would not require them to gut the roster that has made the Western Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons.

That idea came to a screaming halt when ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Durant had no desire to play for the Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves still could have tried to trade for Durant despite him not wanting to play in Minnesota. The most famous example of a team trading for an unhappy superstar with one year left on his deal was the Toronto Raptors, who used the Kawhi Leonard trade to win to championship in 2019.

That isn’t the style of Timberwolves President Tim Connelly, who values players who want ot be in Minnesota. According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, this preference played a big role in acquiring Rudy Gobert in the summer of 2022. Gobert indicated that he would welcome a trade to Minnesota, allowing the Wolves to swing a blockbuster trade for him.

If the Wolves wanted to trade for Durant, they were going to need to convince him that Minnesota was a place he wanted to be, something the Wolves never really came close to accomplishing.

Even if the Timberwolves were able to convince Durant to come to Minnesota, the trade would have come with gigantic risks. Durant will be 37 by the start of next season, has not been the most durable player in recent years, and is now on his third team since leaving the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 offseason.

The most likely trade that the Wolves would have sent out for Durant would have included Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo, and possibly one or multiple of their young assets, including the 17th pick in the upcoming draft, Rob Dillingham, and Terrence Shannon Jr.

That is a trade package that exceeds what Houston ended up sending to Phoenix by a fair amount, and one that would have left the Wolves with very few remaining pivots if the Durant and Edwards pairing didn’t work out like it didn’t for Durant and Devin Booker in Phoenix and with Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets.

The financial aspect of the trade also would have been precarious for the Wolves as they, and the rest of the league, look to stay under the NBA’s “second apron,” which drastically limits the trades and signings teams can make while charging them a large amount of luxury tax on top of it. The Wolves may have been able to keep one or both of Julius Randle and Naz Reid after a potential Durant deal, but they would have paid a hefty price to do so.

That financial inflexibility would not have just been a problem for Minnesota for next season, but for the two following seasons as well. Durant is likely looking to sign a 2-year, $122.1 million contract extension this offseason, one that would pay him $59.5 million during the 2026-27 season and $62.5 million the following season when Durant is 39 years old.

The reward for swinging a Durant trade could have been big, maybe even championship big, but the risks would have been gigantic. It would have put most of the Wolves’ eggs in the basket of a 37-year-old, not too far removed from an Achilles tear, who has very seldom found the basketball nirvana he has seemingly been searching for since departing Oklahoma City almost a decade ago.

There is a scenario where Durant and Edwards are on stage after the Finals hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy, but there is a scenario that list is possibly more likely where the Wolves don’t have enough talent to surround the two superstars, leaving the cupboards bare for Ant’s prime years.

We will see how the Durant era in Houston plays out, but there’s a more than solid chance that Durant, by forcing his way to the Rockets, may have saved the Wolves from themselves.