{"id":97458,"date":"2025-06-14T03:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T03:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/97458\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T03:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T03:30:09","slug":"stephen-a-smiths-kevin-durant-heat-timberwolves-trade-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/97458\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith’s Kevin Durant Heat, Timberwolves trade take"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the NBA Finals continue to move forward, trade rumors are also beginning to heat up around the league. Recent reports suggest that Kevin Durant could be traded soon<\/a>. Teams such as the Houston Rockets, Miami Heat<\/a> and Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> have been mentioned as possible suitors for the Phoenix Suns<\/a> star. Which potential landing destination does Stephen A. Smith<\/a> of ESPN believe is the best fit<\/a> for Durant?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think the team that desperately needs him more than any of them is the Miami Heat,\u201d Smith said before Game 4 of the NBA Finals. \u201cThey really don’t have anything, they need a star. They need somebody that’s a number one option on the offensive side of the ball\u2026 That’s what Kevin Durant is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Heat make sense as a trade suitor for Durant<\/a>. With that said, Smith believes the Timberwolves would instantly become a true championship contender by acquiring the 36-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you’re talking about a team that automatically elevates the championship stature, that’s gonna be the Minnesota Timberwolves,\u201d Smith added. \u201cYou give Anthony Edwards<\/a> Kevin Durant to defer to when he wants to? Look the h*ll out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article Continues Below<\/p>\n

Smith later said Durant and Edwards would be a \u201cchampionship-caliber duo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing is necessarily guaranteed as of this story’s writing. A trade does seem likely to come to fruition, though. In addition to the aforementioned three suitors, the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs have also been listed as possibilities.<\/p>\n

Durant is still one of the best pure scorers in the entire NBA. He would turn many fringe contenders into true threats, such as the Heat. Meanwhile, a team like the Timberwolves \u2014 that has reached the Western Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons \u2014 would likely emerge as a realistic NBA Finals contender with Durant on the roster.<\/p>\n

The NBA Finals have been exciting up to this point, but the Kevin Durant trade situation is capturing plenty of attention as well.<\/p>\n

Joey Mistretta<\/a> is a Dallas Mavericks beat reporter, Dallas Wings beat reporter and lead MLB editor for ClutchPoints. Mistretta graduated college with a degree in broadcast journalism from Biola University, and he has bylines at NBA Analysis Network and RotoWire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the NBA Finals continue to move forward, trade rumors are also beginning to heat up around the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[375,7,938,189,307,152,3954,6,1540,472,2603,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-97458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-kevin-durant","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-minnesota","13":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","14":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-stories","17":"tag-phoenix-suns","18":"tag-stephen-a-smith","19":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114679606394218114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97458","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=97458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}