Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry reportedly spoke to Kevin Durant about potentially reuniting with the Warriors this season.
Golden State pursued Durant at the trade deadline – it had pursued LeBron James at the trade deadline last season – in an attempt to bring a superstar to team up with Curry this season and beyond.
“Unlike when the Warriors looked into acquiring James, Curry spoke with Durant to see if his former teammate was interested in returning,” ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk wrote. “But sources told ESPN that Durant indicated to Curry that a Warriors sequel didn’t ‘feel right,’ that it ‘wasn’t the time’ and that he wasn’t looking to leave Phoenix.”
The Warriors ended up pivoting away from a Durant trade and made a major move to upgrade their roster by trading for six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler in a multi-team deal that involved the Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons.
“You need everybody to be all bought in no matter what the history you have,” Curry told ESPN about his talk with Durant. “And I respect KD. It’s all about having peace of mind and happiness.
“Neither one of us controlled that [trade] situation. It’s just you want to make sure somebody wants to be somewhere. Other than that, I’m not trying to convince anybody to be somewhere they don’t want to be.”
Durant was traded to the Suns by the Brooklyn Nets during the 2022-23 season, and he led Phoenix to the playoffs in that season and the 2023-24 season. However, the Suns have yet to make it past the second round with Durant on the roster.
This season, things have gone even worse for Phoenix. At the All-Star break, it sits in the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference and has lost three games in a row.
The Warriors (the No. 10 seed in the West) aren’t much better, but they have played well with Butler on the roster. Golden State has won three of the four games that Butler has appeared in with the franchise.
Durant, who spent time in Golden State earlier in his career, won two titles playing alongside Curry. He also captured two NBA Finals MVP awards, but he ended his Warriors tenure by tearing his Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals.
The ensuing offseason, Durant signed with the Nets, breaking up the core of himself Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Only Curry and Green remain in Golden State, and the two stars are hoping that Butler can help them get back to the NBA Finals.
It’ll be interesting to see if Durant and Curry find themselves matched up in the play-in tournament in the Western Conference since Golden State is just one spot ahead of Phoenix in the standings.
