Heat interested in Kevin Durant, with latest trade clock already ticking

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jun 12, 2025

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MIAMI — With the Miami Heat again intrigued by the possibility of landing Kevin Durant, a potential union could come down to whether there is mutual interest from the 15-time All-Star.

In the wake of reports linking the Heat to a potential deal for Durant, the Sun Sentinel has confirmed Heat interest. That Heat are not permitted to comment on a player under contract to another team.

Durant is under contract to the Phoenix Suns at $54.7 million for next season, then eligible to hit free agency in the 2026 offseason. Turning 37 in September, Durant would be eligible in July to sign a two-year, $112 million extension with an acquiring team.

Such an extension is similar to the money the Heat initially balked at for Jimmy Butler, before dealing the 35-year-old forward to the Golden State Warriors at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline.

The Heat have a variety of contracts and draft picks to put in play for Durant, including veteran players such as Andrew Wiggins, Duncan Robinson and Terry Rozier, as well as developing prospects such as Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

The timetable for a Durant trade seemingly could revolve around the June 25 first round of the NBA draft, with the Heat holding the No. 20 selection, a pick acquired from the Warriors in the Butler trade.

The Heat were in talks with the Suns at February’s trading deadline regarding a potential Butler-Durant swap, one that would have included Heat draft capital and additional salaries. That was the fourth time the Heat over the years have made a play for Durant, including previous times when he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Brooklyn Nets.

In the wake of the Butler trade, the Heat are better positioned to maneuver around the highly punitive luxury-tax aprons, with the Suns seeking to escape such constraints with a Durant trade.

Heat mainstays Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro are believed to be off-limits in any potential trade for Durant, with the thought that Durant would arrive as a complement to the two.

ESPN reported Wednesday that the Heat are among the teams that have been in contact with the Suns, in addition to the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks, with the New York Post reporting the Knicks have moved on from their interest.

According to ESPN’s report, the Suns are willing to work with Durant to deliver him to a preferred destination, aware that a Durant decision not to extend amid a relocation could torpedo such a trade. Butler played a similar card ahead of his trade to the Warriors, having gone on to extend with Golden State.

While the Heat have worked with the Suns on trades over the years, former Heat forward James Jones no longer leads Phoenix’s front office, now reduced to Phoenix consulting work.

A play for Durant comes with Herro eligible in October for an extension. However, that extension would not kick in until the 2027-28 season. Under such a scenario, that would leave only a single overlap season between a Herro extension and a potential Durant acquisition and extension by the Heat.

Heat President Pat Riley last month downplayed a potential rebuild in the wake of his team’s three consecutive trips to the play-in round, with the Heat soundly routed in a playoff-record sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers in this season’s first round.

While a Durant acquisition would not necessarily make the Heat a championship contender, the Eastern Conference appears to be in flux amid the Achilles injuries that could have Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard out of play for all of next season, with New York having dismissed coach Tom Thibodeau, and with Cleveland manhandled out of the first round by Indiana.