Grade the Trade: Warriors bring back Durant at a high cost in wild 3-team pitch

The Golden State Warriors have to at least think about making a home run swing.

They tried for years to win it all by hitting singles and doubles, re-signing their veteran stars while using their draft picks on young prospects. It was owner Joe Lacob's patented "Two Timelines" plan, and while the Warriors still won the 2022 NBA Finals, time has proven it inadequate to maintaining a dynasty.

What established that dynasty, however, was not playing it safe and trying to straddle the fence; it was bold, swing-for-the-fences moves that carried exceptional risk but also brought immense reward. Then it culminated in the biggest swing of them all, signing MVP Kevin Durant to join a 73-win team and aim for the stars.

Durant and Stephen Curry then led the team to three-straight NBA Finals, winning the first two and being robbed of a shot at the third because Durant and Klay Thompson were felled by injury. Then, in a flash, Durant was gone, fleeing for a chance at establishing his own success outside of Curry's aura.

Fast forward a half-decade, and Durant has failed to even reach the Conference Finals in Brooklyn or Phoenix. He finds himself at a crossroads this summer, on a Suns team with essentially zero assets to improve the team after a first-round sweep. The Warriors are likewise at a crossroads, not even making the playoffs this season and facing some difficult decisions about how to move forward.

What if the answer for the Warriors was the same answer for what Durant should do? What if it's time for another home run swing, and that swing is once again named Kevin Durant? Let's dig into a wild 3-team trade that would bring Durant back to The Bay and inject real championship equity into the final days of the Steph Curry dynasty.