It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for the New York Knicks, and that seemingly won’t be stopping any time soon.
After the team was bounced in six games from its first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years, little time was wasted before changes began.
The Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau less than a week after the playoff exit because the front office felt it was a necessary step in their chase for a championship.
A pursuit that’s included plenty of bold moves already, like acquiring Mikal Bridges from cross-town rival Brooklyn for a boatload of future capital (including five first-round picks) and a trade for Karl-Anthony Towns mere weeks before the 2024-25 season began.
But had things gone New York’s way, there might have been one more, arguably even bigger, splash during the year.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Thursday, the Knicks made an offer to the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant.
The 15-time all-star just wrapped up his 17th NBA season, averaging 26.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists through 62 appearances.
And while Charania didn’t note what was included in the supposed offer, he did mention that Durant and New York had “mutual interest” in uniting at the February trade deadline, even though nothing materialized.
This news comes shortly after ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on the latest Hoop Collective podcast that an anonymous NBA executive told him “this could be an explosive summer.”
Windhorst added that “people are saying that the amount of activity and calls happening in the league right now is at a much higher volume than has been in years past.”
And while that buzz has mostly focused on a potential move from Giannis Antetokounmpo out of Milwaukee, given recent reporting on his intentions, Durant’s name has been floated around quite a bit as well.
The Suns’ experiment with pairing Devin Booker with Bradley Beal and the former MVP hasn’t panned out — regressing year-over-year and missing the playoffs altogether following a 36-win 2024-25 season — which has made the high cost to acquire the stars that much more unsightly.
Seemingly in an effort to recoup some of the assets lost in those deals the front office in Phoenix has shopped Durant on the open market, with one year left on his deal (for $54.7 million) before unrestricted free agency after the 2026-27 campaign.
Following the 2025 trade deadline, Charania reported that the Suns came close to deals with the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies before ultimately holding on to the two-time champion.
All of which seemingly was not to Durant’s interest, as Charania added the star forward was “blindsided” by the trade rumours surrounding him and that he had not requested a trade out of Phoenix.
But with both the Suns and Knicks seemingly looking for drastic changes ahead of next season, could the two sides reignite talks and get a blockbuster deal done?
