Despite their firing of coach Tom Thibodeau, it's hard not to characterize 2025 as a success for the New York Knicks. The team posted its best regular season record since 2013, and made its first voyage to the Eastern Conference finals since 2000.
However, since Thibodeau was dismissed on Tuesday, it has become trendy to nitpick the Knicks' flaws as New York fans naturally wonder what their team could've done differently against the Indiana Pacers.
Appearing on ESPN Thursday, insider Shams Charania offered just such an alternate scenario. He revealed that the Knicks made an offer for Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant at the trade deadline in February.
"The Knicks made an offer for Kevin Durant at the NBA trade deadline" - Shams Charania 👀 pic.twitter.com/NxVKZNiZKo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 5, 2025
On the one hand, this is eyebrow-raising reporting from Charania given Durant's stature as one of the best players of this century (and still, at 36, a formidable scorer at minimum). On the other hand, maybe it shouldn't be that surprising. Consider the narrative that followed New York from Massachusetts to Ohio to Oklahoma this regular season: that the Knicks couldn't win against the league's elite.
Ultimately, they did do that—and in some ways came to embody that elite. Whether they would've gone that far with Durant—or gone farther—will be a matter of speculation around the Big Apple for years to come.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shams Charania Says Knicks Made Offer for Kevin Durant at Trade Deadline.
