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Timberwolves’ Pursuit of Kevin Durant Far From Over
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- Timberwolves’ Pursuit of Kevin Durant Far From Over
John David Mercer-Imagn Images
After the Trade Deadline came and went last week without even a whimper from the Minnesota Timberwolves , fans are wondering what is next for a team that's been a shell of itself since trading Karl-Anthony Towns just before the start of training camp.
The Wolves' lack of action last week before the deadline was not due a lack of motivation. The problem with moving anyone of significance had more to do with this roster's poor combination of aging big man talent ( Randle + Gobert ) and their difficult-to-move contracts.
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President of basketball operations Tim Connelly still did his best to make a third blockbuster deal of his still-young tenure in Minnesota happen. In fact, after the trade deadline passed, reports surfaced that before negotiations fell through, the Wolves had discussed what would have been an absolutely massive trade with the Phoenix Suns that would have landed Kevin Durant in the Twin Cities.
How close did Minnesota Timberwolves get to landing Kevin Durant?
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
How far down the negotiating rabbit hole did the Wolves and Suns really get, though? According to Darren "Doogie" Wolfson (KSTP) on the most recent episode of Mackey & Judd (SKOR North) , they never got all that close to actually inking the deal.
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I guess that opinion is in the eye of the beholder, however, because the two luxury tax burdened NBA organizations got far enough into Durant trade talks that the Wolves started scrambling their salary cap experts to see what it would take to convert Jaylen Clark 's two-way contract into a standard NBA contract.
Why? According to Doogie (below), the Wolves would have needed Clark on a standard contract, in order to legally facilitate a possible deal for KD. And while deadline negotiations for Durant eventually fell through, Doogie says "we know" the Minnesota Timberwolves will continue their pursuit of Kevin Durant this offseason.
"I don't sense [talks between the Suns and Wolves] ever got remotely close. But here's what's interesting. The Wolves, behind the scenes, were doing all sorts of due diligence thinking, planning as if they were going to land Kevin Durant. So multiple players were going to be moved from here.
It got as far as dialogue about converting Jaylen Clark's two-way contract to a standard deal, to get up to the number of players you need on standard NBA contracts. So the Wolves were doing all sorts of work behind the scenes anticipating they were going to land KD.
Bottom line, we know this summer, especially now with Tim Connelly — I'm telling you, I would be shocked if he goes elsewhere [now that Lore and A-Rod won arbitration] — with this front office in place, the Wolves are going to continue their pursuit of Kevin Durant, come this summer."
On Monday, we finally got our long awaited answer to questions regarding the Minnesota Timberwolves future ownership. Unless blocked by the NBA Board of Governors — they need 23 of 30 owners (>75%) to approve their majority purchase — Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez will soon become the majority owners of the Wolves and Lynx franchises.
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Durant to Minnesota inevitable…?
Will the change in ownership increase or decrease the likelihood of landing Kevin Durant this offseason? It helps their chances, without a doubt. Why? Well first, it's worth noting that a trade for KD wouldn't involve extra salary, being the Timberwolves cannot complete trades that bring in more money.
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But most of all, we know that Lore and A-Rod are going to want to have a splashy offseason full of positive headlines. Finding a way to drop Randle form the roster, in exchange for Durant would light the fanbase on fire before the start of the 2026 season.
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All NBA insiders have already acknowledged that the Suns plan to move KD this offseason, so it's just a matter of whether or not the Minnesota Timberwolves provide a package to the Suns' liking and Durant wants to come play with his little bro, Anthony Edwards .
