Kevin Durant has confirmed he intervened to block a potential trade that would have sent him from the Phoenix Suns back to the Golden State Warriors at last season’s trade deadline.
Speaking on September 16 at the Game Plan Sports Business Summit in Los Angeles, Durant revealed that he and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, leveraged their connections to stop the move.
“I heard Golden State was in the mix around the trade deadline, but that’s when Rich came into play, and those relationships that we built around the league and also playing in Golden State helped,” Durant said, according to the Arizona Republic. “We were able to tell them kind of hold off on that.”
Durant, who was eventually traded to the Houston Rockets in a major offseason deal, also expressed his initial disappointment upon hearing the Suns were shopping him.
“Initially, I was a little upset because I felt like we built a solid relationship, me and the Phoenix Suns,” he said. “To hear that from a different party was kind of upsetting, but that’s just the name of the game. So I got over that quickly and was trying to figure out what the next steps were.”
As he prepares for his first season in Houston, Durant remains in pursuit of his first NBA championship since winning back-to-back titles with the Warriors, providing strong motivation for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
