The Kevin Durant trade rumors continue to heat up with potential moves to the Miami Heat and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Stephen A. Smith has given his opinion on the potential Durant landing spots.
While the NBA Finals are going on, Kevin Durant is still making the headlines. The Durant trade is a foregone conclusion for the 2025 offseason, but his landing spot is unclear.
Three teams are potential landing spots: the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Houston Rockets. While the Rockets are a promising spot, most people’s attention is on the Heat and Timberwolves.
ESPN mainstay Stephen A. Smith has given his take on the potential trades. He feels the Heat and Timberwolves would benefit the most if they got Durant. It would be a loaded Heat team, and a star-studded pairing with Anthony Edwards in Minnesota.
The Heat are still reeling from the Jimmy Butler saga. He is now with the Golden State Warriors after months of conflict with the Heat front office. It was a tough moment because Butler was the best player in the two NBA Finals runs.
They are in limbo after the trade, but they still have promising players. The Heat have All-Star-level players with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, who understand their situation. This team can compete for a championship if they have a star.
That is where Durant comes in because he is the superstar who fits the bill. If the Heat can pull off the trade, they could become one of the best Eastern Conference teams overnight. Smith believes it would be a great move for Miami.
“The team that desperately needs him is the Miami Heat. They really don’t have anything. They don’t have a star, they need somebody that’s a number one option on the offensive side of the ball,” Smith said on SportsCenter.
“That’s what Kevin Durant is. Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and the exceptional coaching of Erik Spoelstra. They have a lot of pieces, but they don’t have that bona fide dude that you can rely upon a night-to-night basis.”
The trade with Miami is not the only tantalizing one. Having Durant and Edwards on the same team would be fantastic because of their firepower.
The Timberwolves needed a co-star alongside Edwards during their Western Conference Finals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If Edwards had a teammate of Durant’s caliber, they would have had a chance to win.
Smith believes this would be one of the best duos in the NBA. He is correct with that assessment because Edwards and Durant would form a fearsome pairing.
“That automatically elevates the championship stature that is the Minnesota Timberwolves. You give Edwards, Kevin Durant to defer to? Look the hell out,” Smith said on SportsCenter.
“It’s a different dimension coming your way with those two. You gotta keep the pieces you have.”
“Assuming you have some important components in place, and you have KD and Ant-Man, I’m sorry, that’s a championship-caliber duo.”
No matter where Durant ends up, he will be a needle mover. He has proven he is a game-changing player everywhere he goes, so this will be no different. However, Miami and Minnesota will look good if he joins either one of them.
