The Golden State Warriors are one of the most decorated franchises in NBA history, but that mainly has to do with the success they’ve seen from the 2010s on. A team built through the draft with players like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Harrison Barnes, the Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015 to win the NBA Finals.

In 2016, the 73-9 Warriors would suffer a brutal 3-1 comeback from the Cavaliers and LeBron James, and they jumped on the opportunity to improve the coming offseason by adding Kevin Durant. With Durant, the Warriors won back-to-back titles, with injuries holding them back from being the first team to three-peat since the 2000-03 Los Angeles Lakers.

Durant would go on to leave Golden State in the 2019 offseason, but there were rumors of a return this past NBA season, when then Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant was being shopped around before the trade deadline. Recently, Durant came forth to talk about those trade rumors and how he reacted to them with his former team being in the mix.

Kevin Durant on the rockets trading for him and finding out the suns were trying to trade him at the deadline 👀 #LiftOff pic.twitter.com/e5y0uf7ulM

— KNAWTNINE (@knawtnine) September 17, 2025

“I heard Golden State was in the mix around the trade deadline, so that’s where Rich [Kleiman] came into play and those relationships that we built around the league, and also playing in Golden State helped. So he was able to tell them that, hold off on that,” Durant said.

After the Luka Doncic trade, there was a lot of attention on the Warriors as they were making a strong effort to pursue a star to play next to Curry. Before they ended up settling on Jimmy Butler, there were plenty of rumors tying the Warriors to a reunion with Durant. At the time, a potential deal could’ve included Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, and other salary-matching pieces.

However, Durant, as he again confirmed here, shut down the trade and now is in Houston, where he looks to be the ideal piece for the Rockets to get over the hump after their first-round exit.

“I didn’t want to move and I get why you want to trade me, simple fact that’s business but for me looking at it… we can play the season out and if that’s the decision you want to make in the off-season then we figure it out”@KDtrey5 explains why he vetoed the Suns-Warriors… pic.twitter.com/1Gfa3uJKZN

— The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis (@DraymondShow) February 26, 2025

Durant shared earlier this year, on the topic of the potential Warriors trade, that he didn’t want the move because he knows he costs a lot as a player and would change things up drastically. If the Warriors had to give up players like Moses Moody and Gary Payton II as well for cap reasons, it would’ve weakened the team’s rotation and affected chemistry.