Kevin Durant may be in line for another 2016-like reputation hit.
On Tuesday’s episode of “First Things First,” Nick Wright of FS1 made some very interesting comments about the Phoenix Suns star Durant. Wright said that he has been told to watch out for Durant potentially ending up on the Boston Celtics.
“Two totally unrelated people, both of whom have reputations for knowing things that other people don’t know, have said to me [to] watch out for Durant in Boston,” said Wright.
The former MVP Durant, now 36, is widely expected to be traded away by the Suns this offseason. Meanwhile, the Celtics are the NBA’s defending champions but have been slightly less impressive this season at 53-19 (which is “only” the third-best record in the league).
Durant already pulled a similar move in 2016 by joining the Golden State Warriors, who were coming off a 73-win season that year and an NBA championship the year before that. He went on to lead Golden State to two more championships during his time there but was never respected by fans for the decision to sign with them.
This time around would be a bit different since Durant can only get to the Celtics this offseason via trade. But a move to Boston would still require at least some measure of cooperation from Durant, who can use the threat of being able to leave in free agency in 2026 to steer himself away from destinations where he does not want to play.
The Celtics almost certainly will not shake up their core this summer if they win a second straight NBA title. But in the event that they come up short, Boston has an intriguing arsenal of veterans (like Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Kristaps Porzingis) plus slightly younger players (such as Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, and Baylor Scheierman) to entice Phoenix with (assuming that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both off the table).
It is worth noting as well that Boston has pursued Durant multiple times in the past. They pulled out all the stops to try to sign Durant as a free agent in 2016 and then pursued him again when he became available for trade in 2022 as a member of the Brooklyn Nets.
Granted, there are a lot of other teams that can offer the Suns a better package for Durant this offseason, namely when it comes to draft compensation and young prospects with upside. We have also recently heard talk that Durant may be eyeing one more realistic potential trade destination instead.
