The Golden State Warriors made their big splash at the trade deadline this season, acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat to pair with Stephen Curry. The duo worked out very well and got the Warriors into the second round of the playoffs before a hamstring injury to Curry cut their title chase short.
While the move to get Butler was a big one, Golden State was trying to make an even bigger splash before swinging a team for the disgruntled Miami star. The Warriors were trying to get a deal done to reunite with Kevin Durant, who won a pair of NBA Championships with the franchise in 2017 and 2018.
Durant ended up choosing to stay in Phoenix for the rest of the season and is now likely to be traded this offseason. On the Warriors side, however, Draymond Green and company thought that the deal was very close to getting done according to Ben Stinar of Sports Illustrated.
“I saw Joe [Lacob]; and Joe gets excited; that’s my guy,” Green said, via Stinar. “Joe goes, ‘Draymond, I think we’re gonna get Kevin Durant; it’s right there at the finish line; it’s happening.’ We’re getting Kevin Durant back… We talk about it, he’s like you think it’ll work? I’m like, absolutely… He comes running back to me like two minutes later. Draymond, Draymond, I wasn’t supposed to say anything. Don’t say nothing to nobody.”
Klay Thompson isn’t in the mix anymore, but the core of Curry, Green and Durant still would have been a very formidable one heading into the postseason. The injury to Curry would have derailed any version of the Warriors, but putting him and Durant back together would have struck fear into any opponent on the other side.
Acquiring Durant would have likely cost the Warriors a little bit more than it did to get Butler, but the loss of someone like Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody would certainly have been worth the increased scoring on the wing that Durant would have provided. Now, the Warriors likely don’t have enough assets to get Durant to The Bay this offseason when the Suns inevitably trade him.
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