No KD trade? Myers says he likes Dubs team ‘where it's at'

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Ever since Kevin Durant left in free agency in the summer of 2019, the Warriors have been collecting young talent and building a parallel-path roster, integrating several first-round draft picks with the veteran core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

While there were questions about whether the Warriors could win while trying to develop Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman and Moses Moody, the team pushed forward with the plan. And while Poole was the only one who played a significant role in the playoff run that led to Golden State winning its fourth NBA title in eight seasons last month, they don't appear to be wavering from the strategy.

Even with Durant potentially available in a blockbuster trade three years after he left.

Without uttering Durant's name, Warriors president and general manager Bob Myers essentially shut down any chance of trading all the young talent for a reunion with the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals MVP.

“I like our team and where it’s at,” Myers said to NBA.com's Mark Medina on Wednesday. “I want to give the guys a chance to do it again.”

Durant, unhappy with the situation in Brooklyn, requested a trade from the Nets ahead of NBA free agency at the beginning of July. Any deal for the NBA superstar is complicated. Teams that want Durant need several young stars and a stash of first-round draft picks to make a deal happen.

While the teams rumored to be high on Durant's wish list were the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat, the possibility of a trade back to the Warriors gained steam with reporting from Andscape's Marc J. Spears. Since then, other national reporters have suggested there is a link between the Warriors and Durant.

Because of the presence of Andrew Wiggins, Poole, Kuminga, Wiseman and Moody, in theory, the Warriors have the best collection of assets to fulfill Brooklyn's desire for All-Star caliber players. Still, nothing has materialized.

Trade talks surrounding Durant have slowed down recently and the further away we get from his request to be shipped out of Brooklyn, the more likely the Warriors enter training camp with the roster as currently constructed, banking on those young players to ascend into major contributors.

“It’s a good group," Myers told Medina. "We’re lucky. It’ll be fun to see. We were really hunting last year. Now I guess we’re back to being the hunted, which I didn’t think we’d be. We’ll see. I think we can handle it.”

With Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton, Nemanja Bjelica, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damion Lee gone (and Andre Iguodala's status for the 2022-23 season still unknown), the Warriors are going to need a lot more from Kuminga, Wiseman and Moody if they hope to repeat as NBA champions.

And by not pursuing Durant, Myers appears to be confident those young players can take the next step that is required.

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