Kevin Durant could be an appealing trade target, but the San Antonio Spurs should steer clear of the aging All-Star forward.
Over the past two seasons, the San Antonio Spurs have almost played their rebuild perfectly. They got lucky by landing Victor Wembanyama and then have smartly begun to build around him as only they could. San Antonio made a big splash at this past year's NBA Trade Deadline by acquiring De'Aaron Fox, but they also haven't made an overly rash move just yet.
Heading into the NBA offseason, the temptation will be there for the Spurs. Even though the start of the offseason is still a couple of months away, there are already trade rumors that have linked the Spurs to one Kevin Durant. Heading into the NBA summer, KD is expected to be one of the bigger names to hit the trade market. The expectation is that many teams across the league will be interested in trading for him. Perhaps including the Spurs.
But while the lure may be strong for the Spurs to try to surround Fox and Wemby with another star player, I'd argue that KD isn't the target San Antonio should explore. There are many reasons why, at this point in his career, the Spurs should steer clear of KD.
Why the Spurs should not explore a trade for Kevin Durant
There was a time in his career when every team should drop their long-term plans to pursue KD. That's no longer the case. As a soon-to-be 37-year-old, KD is still a very good player, but he's no longer the primary piece of a championship team. The argument could be made whether he even still drastically raises the ceiling of a team. The perfect example of that is what has transpired during his last two seasons in Phoenix.
For the Spurs, the juice is no longer worth the squeeze when it comes to KD. In fact, the argument could be made that adding KD could create more harm than good for such a young team. Adding KD could stunt the growth of Wemby. I'm not saying that's exactly what would happen, but if there's even a small chance of it happening, it should dissuade the Spurs from going down that path.
When you also consider the idea that KD doesn't fit the Spurs' winning timeline at all, it becomes more and more clear that this is a scenario the team should avoid at all costs. In theory, the idea of adding KD to Wemby and Fox sounds good. In theory, it should make the team better and put them in an even better position to compete for a playoff spot next season.
However, it may not be the best long-term play for the Spurs. And, at this point, the Spurs should be prioritizing their long-term future over short-term excitement and, possibly, disappointment.