Replica Stein: The Raptors want to take a try on Durant, with 1 year remaining in the contract

June 15, According to famous reporter Marc Stein, the Raptors are interested in Sun superstar Durant, and they are willing to take a try on the 36-year-old legendary star.

Stein said: "The news you hear about Durant now is that some teams will say, 'You know, we know that he has only one year left in his contract, about $55 million. We are willing to bet on him.'

Toronto Raptors are one of the teams. The Raptors have done it before, they bet on a future Hall of Fame forward, when his contract expired one year - the Raptors exchanged for the Little Card and won the championship, but they soon lost the Little Card." In July 2018, the Raptors sent DeRozan, Pearl, and the protected first-round pick in 2019 (Choose Kelden Johnson), and exchanged for Little Card and Danny Green from the Spurs. In 2019, Xiao Ka led the Raptors to win the first championship in team history and won the MVP in the finals.

According to ESPN salary expert Bobby Marks, 36-year-old Durant has the last year left for his contract (salary of about $54.71 million), but due to the 38-year-old rule restrictions, he can only renew his contract for two years at most. If Durant stays with the Suns, he can renew a two-year, $124 million contract; if he is traded by the Suns, he can renew a two-year, $111 million contract with the new team (similar to the situation between Butler and the Warriors).

In the 2024-25 season, 36-year-old Durant played 62 regular season games for the Suns, averaging 36.5 minutes per game, scoring 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.2 blocks, with shooting percentages in the three events being 52.7%, 43.0% and 83.9% respectively.