Nick Wright speculates Celtics as possible trade destination for Kevin Durant
"Two totally unrelated people ... have said to me, 'Watch out for Durant in Boston.’"
Another year, another rumor linking Kevin Durant to the Boston Celtics.
Speaking on FS1’s “First Things First” on Tuesday, Fox Sports pundit Nick Wright said that he’s heard that the Celtics could emerge as an interested party this offseason if the Suns entertain offers for the future Hall-of-Fame forward.
“I’m not [ESPN NBA insider] Brian Windhorst — I’m not putting my fingers up,” Wright said. “But I will say [that] two totally unrelated people — both of whom have reputations for knowing things that other people don’t know — have said to me, ‘Watch out for Durant in Boston.’
“I don’t know even the pieces that would work, and it feels a lot like what Durant got killed for with [joining] Golden State before. So it doesn’t make sense, but I’ve heard that twice now.”
While the Celtics — as currently constituted — are once again viewed as one of the favorites to win a 19th championship this spring, Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard noted that Boston could opt to shake up their lineup if the team fell short this postseason amid this current contention window.
“And that assumption is that they don’t win the championship. … Because if they won it again,” Broussard noted.
“They wouldn’t change anything,” Wright added.
Durant — who turns 37 years old in September — would not be a long-term fixture in Boston given both his age and his current contract, which expires at the end of the 2025-26 season.
But Durant is still holding court as one of the most effective scorers in the NBA at this stage of his career. He has appeared in 59 games with the Suns this season, averaging 26.8 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists over 36.9 minutes.
If the Celtics need another potent scorer (especially as a secondary option behind Jayson Tatum), Durant would hold plenty of appeal.
But a Celtics roster already staring at several daunting decisions this offseason due to a steep luxury-tax bill would have to severely alter its depth chart to accommodate a player like Durant.
The case can be made that Boston’s roster likely needs to subtract star talent this summer — rather than add a superstar of Durant’s caliber.
Boston’s payroll for the 2025-26 season could total over $500 million due to luxury-tax penalties, which could prompt the team (and new owner Bill Chisholm) to weigh moving a contract like Jrue Holiday’s or Kristaps Porzingis’ in order to get under the second tax apron of the NBA’s current CBA and cut into that luxury-tax bill.
If the Celtics were seriously interested in acquiring Durant, they’d have to get under the second apron anyway — as the restrictions put in place by operating in that spending threshold include not being able to send cash in trades, as well as not having the option to combine salaries to acquire a bigger contract.
As a result, the Celtics could only take back equal or less salary for any player they send out in a trade — which wouldn’t be possible as a second-apron team if they wanted to take on Durant’s $54.7 million payout for the 2025-26 season.
In other words, the Celtics would likely need to dump a contract like Holiday’s just to get under that second-apron designation — and then try to find a way to strike a deal for Durant, which would require giving up even more assets … while welcoming additional cap-related headaches.
Durant is no stranger to being linked to the Celtics — be it during his free-agency sweepstakes in 2016 or as a trade destination in August 2022 (which reportedly involved Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and a first-round pick).
But as appealing as it might be to envision Durant sinking step-back jumpers in a Celtics jersey, the payroll-related headaches would be daunting to deal with for a new Boston ownership group.
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