Amid their frantic coaching search, the New York Knicks are linked to a potential Kevin Durant blockbuster trade this summer.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania reported that talks between the Phoenix Suns and Durant’s business partner, Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, have escalated this past week.
They have met “multiple times over the past week and are sifting through trade scenarios.” The Knicks are one of the five teams that are heavily linked to Durant.
“Teams that have expressed interest in Durant, sources said, mainly feature the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks. Several wild-card suitors have made inquiries on Durant in the past seven to 10 days, sources said,” Charania wrote.
In an earlier report, Charania said the Knicks made an offer for Durant at the trade deadline.
“On Kevin Durant, I will say this: There was some mutual interest between Kevin Durant and the Knicks at the trade deadline. The Knicks made an offer for Kevin Durant at the NBA trade deadline,” Charania said last week.
It was not revealed what the Knicks’ offer was. But All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, who is owed $53.1 million next season, and a small salary filler (potentially PJ Tucker if they guarantee his $3.5 million salary) could work under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Rich Kleiman Wanted Kevin Durant to Join Knicks in 2019
Kleiman, who grew up a Knicks fan, revealed in a 2024 episode of “Boardroom” that he wanted his top client to join the team he rooted for since childhood, during the 2019 NBA free agency.
Durant’s father and his uncle were on board with Kleiman until Durant chose to join his friend, Kyrie Irving, in Brooklyn instead. The superstar’s free agency decision in 2019 became a sliding-door moment in his career and NBA history.
“Let’s say this, had you gone to the Knicks after the Bay, right? And you never won a championship ever. But you went to the conference finals, maybe went to finals, maybe went to the second round of playoffs. I actually think you’d be in that [greatest players] combo quicker than because of what you did,” Kleiman said.
Durant acknowledged Kleiman’s assessment of what could have been.
“I know that was so hard for you,” Durant said to Kleiman, referring to his decision to sign with the Nets which forced Kleiman to turn his back on his beloved Knicks for two years. “That’s why I love you so much because that was the toughest thing above anything.”
Will Kleiman’s wish come true this time?
Suns Not Interested in Karl-Anthony Towns
GettyThe Phoenix Suns are reportedly not interested in Karl-Anthony Towns.
Despite Towns’ friendship with Suns franchise star Devin Booker, his ex-Kentucky teammate, the Suns are not interested in Towns, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports.
“I have heard that the Suns don’t have interest in Karl-Anthony Towns,” Gambadoro said. “I was told that… With the Knicks, (PHX) more likely would like an OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges, but not a Karl-Anthony Towns.”
However, a Durant swap for Anunoby and Bridges does not work salary-wise. Anunoby and Bridges combine for $64.5 million in salaries, which is $9.7 million more than what Durant will make next season. The Suns cannot aggregate salaries since they are a second-apron team.
