{"id":114677,"date":"2025-06-21T16:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/114677\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T16:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T16:15:09","slug":"latest-from-fischer-stein-kd-suns-ware-raptors-knicks-donovan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/114677\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest From Fischer, Stein: KD, Suns, Ware, Raptors, Knicks, Donovan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Suns continue to project confidence that a trade involving star forward Kevin Durant<\/a> will be agreed to before June 25, the first night of the 2025 NBA draft, sources tell Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line<\/a> (Substack link).<\/p>\n

According to the authors, Phoenix\u2019s front office \u2014 led by new general manager Brian Gregory \u2014 is \u201cquietly hopeful\u201d it will be able to land a first-round pick in a potential Durant deal to use next Wednesday. The team currently controls<\/a> one late first-rounder (No. 29 overall) and one late second-rounder (No. 52).<\/p>\n

Fischer and Stein point to the first-round selections controlled by the Raptors (No. 9), Rockets (No. 10), Timberwolves (No. 17) and Heat (No. 20) as examples of some of the picks the Suns have tried to acquire in Durant trade talks. But they also haven\u2019t been thrilled<\/a> with the offers they\u2019ve received to this point, which is why a deal has yet to come together.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more from The Stein Line duo:<\/p>\n

The Heat have been \u201cfirmly against\u201d including big man Kel\u2019el Ware<\/a> in their offers to the Suns for Durant, sources tell Fischer and Stein. The 15th pick of last year\u2019s draft, Ware was named to the All-Rookie Second Team in 2024\/25 after a solid debut season. Phoenix is believed to be prioritizing draft capital from Miami with Ware evidently off-limits.
\nFischer and Stein confirm that the Raptors also are unwilling to part<\/a> with starting center Jakob Poeltl<\/a> to acquire Durant. Assuming he isn\u2019t moved, league sources tell The Stein Line that Toronto and the Austrian big man have mutual interest in a contract extension \u201cin the near future.\u201d
\nToronto continues to be active in trade talks, particularly when it comes to the draft. According to Fischer and Stein, the Raptors have expressed an openness to moving down from No. 9, but have also discussed the possibility of trying to add a second lottery pick. No matter which pick(s) they ultimately control, rival teams believe the Raptors are focused on drafting a center.
\nThe Knicks are not expected to hire a head coach until after next week\u2019s draft, which will take place over two days (the second round is on Thursday), one person familiar with the matter told The Stein Line. Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins interviewed for the job this week and both of the former head coaches are believed to have \u201clevels of support\u201d in New York. According to Fischer and Stein, Brown is said to be close with executive William Wesley, while Jenkins reportedly impressed the team in his interview.
\nAlthough New York was denied<\/a> permission to interview Billy Donovan, the Bulls claim their extension talks with their head coach preceded that request, per Fischer and Stein. \u201cThey love him,\u201d one source familiar with management\u2019s thinking said of Chicago\u2019s fondness for Donovan. Stein first reported<\/a> that the Bulls and Donovan were finalizing an extension.
\nIn case you missed it, Fischer and Stein also reported<\/a> that multiple teams have shown interest in Suns wing Cody Martin<\/a> as part of the Durant trade talks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Suns continue to project confidence that a trade involving star forward Kevin Durant will be agreed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,3363,1399,981,938,304,3357,6,1136,191,3810,3806,4194,23758],"class_list":{"0":"post-114677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-billy-donovan","10":"tag-jakob-poeltl","11":"tag-kelel-ware","12":"tag-kevin-durant","13":"tag-knicks","14":"tag-mike-brown","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-knicks","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkknicks","20":"tag-taylor-jenkins","21":"tag-william-wesley"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114722250722368865","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}