The Golden State Warriors’ 2025-26 roster, headlined by Stephen Curry, appears promising.
Still, it has to be painful thinking about what could have been with their former 6-foot-11 superstar forward, who recently signed a contract extension with their Western Conference foe.
“BREAKING: Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant has agreed to a two-year, $90 million contract extension with the franchise,” ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday. “The new deal includes a player option in 2027-28”
"Durant was eligible for a max extension of $120M, but understood when he chose the Rockets as a trade destination that he'd be sacrificing money – in this case around $30M less – so that the sides can partner for the long term and give the franchise team-building flexibility.”
Durant, who won his first and only two NBA championships with the Golden State in the late 2010s, was consistently involved in trade rumors last season.
Although a reunion with the Warriors seemed unlikely, it didn’t stop Durant and the Dubs from being linked to one another for months.
The 15-time All-Star ultimately finished the 2024-25 season with the Phoenix Suns before getting traded to the Rockets this past offseason.
After the unsuccessful trade attempt, head coach Steve Kerr confirmed that the Warriors wanted Durant back in the Bay before last season's Feb. 6 trade deadline.
“I think it’s well documented that we were trying to get Kevin Durant, but obviously that didn’t happen,” Kerr said on the Tom Tolbert show in late May.
Landing Jimmy Butler was a viable consolation prize, but there’s no denying that Durant would have given the Dubs a bigger boost moving forward.
The two parties have gone their separate ways, though, making it unhealthy to live in what-if land for an extended period.
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