ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania is not sleeping on the San Antonio Spurs when it comes to the Kevin Durant sweepstakes this summer.

On ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” Charania mentioned that “there was mutual interest at the (2025 trade) deadline” between Phoenix Suns star Durant and the Spurs.

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“I think they are going to be looking very actively to see: Is there a wing player we can bring in that could take us over the top?” Charania said.

The Spurs are thin at small forward, which is one of Durant’s most natural positions.

They were guard heavy this season, starting Chris Paul, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell at least 47 games each.

De’Aaron Fox started every game he played in for San Antonio.

Things would have been different if they could have added Durant at the trade deadline to pair with that guard rotation, power forward Harrison Barnes and center Victor Wembanyama.

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Wembanyama played in only four games after the trade deadline due to injury, but Charania reported the Spurs “fully expect him to be ready to go for the start of training camp.”

Durant, who can play the four or the wing, averaged 26.6 points per game this season with 1.2 blocks per game. He shot 52.7% from the field. All three of those numbers would have been team highs among Spurs players who played 55 or more games.

“They also have a ton of assets,” Charania said about the Spurs. “They have tradeable contracts. They have the No. 2 pick, they have the No. 14 pick in this year’s draft. They have a bunch of tradeable picks as well, moving forward, they have all their picks.”

Durant did not directly reply, but did respond to a fan discussing the situation on X (formerly Twitter). The fan pointed out that if Durant is traded to the Spurs, Durant would be playing for his fifth franchise.

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The fan said that a player cannot be a top 15 player of all time if the player has played for five franchises.

Durant did not say that he would definitely leave Phoenix for a fifth franchise, but did take the time to disagree with the fan’s take on X:

Durant is top 15 all-time in NBA Finals MVPs (tied for sixth), points scored (eighth), free throws made (eighth), field goals made (12th) and 3-point field goals made (14th).

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Shams Charania reveals new partner for Kevin Durant trade. KD responds