Golden State Warriors trade was ‘agreed’ before deadline collapse, Stephen Curry knew it would not work…

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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has a winning team again, after a challenging start to 2025. The trade that saw Andrew Wiggins leave for the Miami Heat, brought an even more piece to the Bay in return, Jimmy Butler.

The move for Jimmy Butler came towards the end of the trade window, and the superstar player was expecting to head to the Phoenix Suns.

To enable that to happen, it emerged Kevin Durant could leave the Suns, being strongly linked with a return to the Warriors.

Durant did not wish to be traded, and he has explained it was nothing personal against the Warriors, he simply wanted to see the season out in Phoenix.

Photo by Kevin Sousa/Getty Images
Photo by Kevin Sousa/Getty Images

How close Golden State Warriors got to Kevin Durant

A proposed trade for Kevin Durant got a lot more advanced than it should have done, according to Warriors reporter Anthony Slater.

Slater told the Ryen Russillo podcast that having followed up on the unfolding events, he was told by Stephen Curry that the deal never had a chance of getting off the ground.

He explained: “I remember talking to Steph after the Butler trade, when he was just absorbing, like, oh, wow, we actually did it. And kind of asked him about, like, the Kevin aspect of it all.

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“So the trade deadline, obviously, on a Thursday, if I have the timing right, he had talked to him basically, like the Saturday-ish range before, somewhere around there anyway. And he was like, ‘Yeah, Kevin doesn’t want to go here. I know this.’”

While the Warriors superstar player knew of Kevin Durant’s intentions, the two front offices were oblivious, misinformed, or simply prepared to push against the superstar’s wishes.

Slater added: “The front office, as has been told to me, kind of underestimated that aspect.

“Talks were kind of being signaled from Phoenix side, like, that’s fine, and then by the end, it was like, okay, let’s make sure here.

“And then they [Golden State] were given a much like, colder view of it from the Durant side, of like, ‘Oh no, he really doesn’t want to be here.’”

Golden State abandoned Durant attempts

It was at this point that Golden State decided to shelve negotiations and strike a deal with the Heat for Jimmy Butler, who was desperate to leave Miami.

He said: “I think they had a lot of 2019 flashbacks going through their mind, of like, as good as that 2019 team was, remember how miserable that was, and they just didn’t want to replay that. And it was clearly Kevin’s wishes not to replay that. So they pulled out of it.

He added that the deal was “basically agreed upon, except for this check point.”

“The front offices should have got that check point out of the way a lot earlier, because then I think if you’re Phoenix, you’re looking back now like, you may have ruined a relationship where you could have got that answer a lot earlier.”

There were also talks between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant, which also led nowhere.

Durant is now widely expected to leave the Suns in the summer, who have been branded the most disappointing team of the NBA season, currently situated outside the playoffs after starting 8-1.