Revealing the new Durant trade negotiations: Suns ask the Rockets for Jay, but the Spurs refuse to give the second pick

On June 15, The Athletic reporter Sam Amick reported that the Spurs and the Rockets are Durant's preferred destination, but his hope of going to San Antonio or Houston does not mean that he will eventually go to one of the two cities, because both teams have "complex factors" that make the deal difficult to reach.

ESPN famous reporter Shams also reported similarly, but he said that Durant is interested in joining the Heat in addition to being interested in these two Texas teams. He said, "people in the entire NBA" were told that these three teams are teams that Durant would consider renewing. He has one year left on his contract and earns an annual salary of $54.7 million.

Shams noted that once the deal is completed, Durant will be eligible for a two-year renewal contract worth up to $112 million on July 7. If he waits until the transaction is officially completed and renews the contract six months later, the potential value of the contract extension will reach US$124 million for two years.

sources told Shams that there were six to eight "very interested teams" chasing Durant. The Suns have informed the teams that they plan to make the best deal for themselves, even if Durant ends up going where he doesn't want to go.

TheAthletic reporter Kelly Iko pointed out that the Spurs have a young talent base, currently have no salary cap concerns, and have abundant draft assets (13 first-round picks by 2032), which gives them the ability to make "actions to change the team's development process" to speed up the team building process around Vinban Yama. League sources told Iko that the Spurs are still unwilling to give Durant the second pick in this year's draft, and the draft pick is expected to pick Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, but the Spurs are willing to offer this year's No. 14 pick.

Iko's report echoed reporter Jake Fischer's report earlier today, saying the Suns were not satisfied with the Spurs' offer around Wassell, Kelden Johnson and Harrison Barnes. Durant's desire to join the Spurs will be a factor, but Iko sounds skeptical, thinking that the deal is unlikely to happen unless the offer improves.

Iko added that the Rockets are similar, and as a young team, they must decide whether they are willing to disrupt the current team development plan to bring in an older and highly paid player, even a capable player like Durant. He noted that Houston and Phoenix had been in talks on Durant’s deal for more than a year, but the Suns decided to restructure their management with Gregory as the new general manager, which affected those negotiations. Sources told Iko that the Suns initially decided to return to the first round picks of their own team that the Rockets had in 2025, 2027 and 2029, and later turned to obtain multiple young players, such as Shin Kyung and Jaylen Green. Team and league sources told Iko that Jabbarry Smith Jr. has recently become the focus of the Suns' pursuit. Iko heard Jaylen Green wanted to stay in Houston to make up for his poor playoff performance, and the Rockets management has not shown much interest in breaking up his young core squad in pursuit of Durant.

Timberwolves' record discusses the challenge of bringing Durant's contract to Minnesota, and the Timberwolves are currently on the same salary as the Suns, with a salary exceeding the second rich line. Sources from the Timberwolves told him that the team will not give up McDaniels in Durant's trade, which means that the Timberwolves can restore salary matching ability by lowering below the second rich line, and must include Randall or Gobert to help match the salary. Randall has a $30.9 million player option next season, which he must agree to execute before being included in the trade, while Gobert's contract amount is $35 million. Any of the two players will be a good addition to Booker and will hopefully help the Suns return to the playoffs.

In addition, the Timberwolves must give out another salary, such as Divinchenzo's $12 million, and the Suns may also want the Timberwolves to join a young player, such as Dillingham, Terrence Shannon or Jaylen Clark.