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Real Reason Kevin Durant Spurned MN Timberwolves Revealed
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- Real Reason Kevin Durant Spurned MN Timberwolves Revealed
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
What are the Minnesota Timberwolves going to do before the February 5 NBA trade deadline? That's what the entire league was wondering this morning, as we came up on two days remaining until 2 pm CST, Thursday.
That was before the Wolves completed a deal on Tuesday that sent Mike Conley to Chicago and a pick swap to Detroit , in exchange for more cap flexibility to pull of a deal for Giannis , who has expressed his desire to land in Minnesota.
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On today's episode of Flagrant Howls (SKOR North) , Phil Mackey and local insider Darren Wolfson (KSTP) discussed all of the recent rumors and reports over the past day or two — most of which have tied the Wolves to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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Wolfson confirmed earlier reports that the Wolves are indeed in on Giannis and that they really haven't explored other options seriously, as they await the Milwaukee Bucks decision on whether or not to trade him before the deadline or wait until the offseason.
"My understanding is the interest in Giannis goes back a while. This is not new. There were attempts last year to acquire Giannis. The Wolves are all in on acquiring Giannis outside of making Anthony Edwards available."
Outside of confirming what has already been reported on the Wolves' involvement with Giannis, Wolfson didn't have much for new information to offer, outside of Portland being a possible partner in a possible three or four team deal for the 31-year-old, 2x league MVP .
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The most interesting moment of Darren's appearance Tuesday on Flagrant Howls actually came during a quick sidebar moment in the middle of his Giannis + MN Timberwolves monologue.
Why Kevin Durant spurned MN Timberwolves…
While talking about how other NBA superstars want to come to the Twin Cities to play with Anthony Edwards, he threw us back in time to last offseason, when Kevin Durant vetoed a deal that would have landed him in Minnesota.
According to Wolfson, KD didn't spurn the Timberwolves because it's too cold in the Twin Cities, and obviously not because of Ant. Instead, the longtime local sports insider has been told that Durant didn't want to play for Chris Finch.
Well well well this sure is interesting…
Per @DWolfsonKSTP , Kevin Durant vetoed a trade to the Timberwolves last year because he didn't want to play for Chris Finch… 👀
"A lot of superstars want to play with Ant. KD was the exception, and that had nothing to do with Ant…… pic.twitter.com/z3PimldAx0— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 3, 2026
"A lot of superstars want to play with Ant. KD was the exception, and that had nothing to do with Ant… I don't have all the inner-workings of this, but my understanding is KD had trepidation playing for Chris Finch… Superstars want to play with Anthony Edwards."
Unfortunately, Doogie was not able to glean any further information into exactly what about the Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Kevin Durant is not a fan of.
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For now, those details don't really matter. A guy with the sources that Darren has does not put something like this out there with such certainty, unless he absolutely knows it to be the case.
There have been questions surrounding whether or not Chris Finch is the right coach to push the MN Timberwolves past the Western Conference Finals, especially given how undisciplined the team has looked throughout the 2025-26 season .
Is Chris Finch coaching for his job?
Last night, for example, they fell to the Memphis Grizzlies that went in on a seven-game losing streak. When Finch emerged from the locker room in Memphis to meet with reporters after the game, he looked like a man running out of answers.
After their victory over the Wolves one night earlier, the Grizzlies made a deal on Tuesday signifying their full-rebuild status. Could this media leak be the beginning of whispers behind the scenes on Chris Finch? It sure sounds like it.
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Players, team officials and others around the NBA have all been huge supporters of Finchy, up to this point. Still, it's worth noting that most modern all-time NBA greats needed some sort of coaching change, before they took the next step in their path to superstardom.
Related: Timberwolves Desperately Trying to Close Giannis Deal… But Won't Offer Jaden?
Those names include Michael Jordan, LeBron James , Steph Curry , and Kobe Bryant . With Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore now in charge, there is no doubt they are thinking about this too.
Many people also forget that Finch was not hired by Tim Connelly, A-Rod or Lore. He was hired by Gersson Rosas, before he was fired for improper canoodling with underling coworkers.
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