Latest Kevin Durant buzz is reminder of how many times he could've been a Celtic

Kevin Durant has been the eye of the (young) NBA offseason storm. His impending exit from the Phoenix Suns has left NBA fans wondering which team will trade for the 36-year-old and become his fifth NBA home.

As of Tuesday, the Miami Heat and Houston Rockets are the front-runners to land the all-time great, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

Though the exodus from Phoenix seems like it's finally happening, there was significant buzz that Durant would be traded ahead of the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline. Of course, that didn't happen, and KD finished the season as a Sun.

Had a trade materialized, Durant could've had interest in a move to join the Boston Celtics, even if it may not have been remotely realistic with the team's cap situation.

Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor shared that tidbit of speculation in his most recent update on the KD trade saga on Tuesday.

"There were rumblings at the trade deadline KD wanted to land with the Celtics or Knicks," O'Connor wrote. "New York’s interest reportedly isn’t mutual anymore. Boston’s cap sheet and trajectory make that scenario highly unlikely."

Durant being traded to Boston last season would've been borderline impossible. Both the Suns and Celtics were over the league's second-apron line, meaning that neither could aggregate salaries, or receive more salary than they were sending out in a trade.

The only way it could've happened is if Phoenix somehow got themselves below the second apron in a separate deal.

Kevin Durant has almost been a Celtic several times

Though a 2025 deadline swap wasn't all that realistic, Durant and the Celtics have nearly been united several times since the former Texas Longhorn entered the league.

In fact, the first was just that, Durant's entry to the NBA.

Back in the spring of 2007, Boston was coming off the second-worst season in franchise history, where they had won just 24 games. Injuries and a record 18-game losing streak had the Cs in prime position to land that year's No. 1 overall pick.

Acting President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge hoped to draft Durant, by all accounts, and bring the Slim Reaper to North Station.

He and the Celtics entered the lottery with a 19.9% chance at that first selection, but wound up falling to fifth -- the worst case scenario. Durant ended up being taken second overall by the Seattle Supersonics, and Boston packaged their fifth pick, along with young talent, to bring in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.

Of course, that team won the title that year, so missing on KD worked out for the better.

Almost a decade later, Boston had another opportunity to get Durant in green. The former MVP was the top prize of the 2016 free agency class. It just so happened that Ainge and the Celtics had $94 million to spend on luring KD and a potential running-mate (Al Horford) to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to play alongside Isaiah Thomas.

That Fourth of July weekend was incredible. Durant was taking meetings with several teams he was interested in, including Boston, and Celtics fans were glued to their phones or TVs waiting to hear if KD would be a Celtic.

The most ridiculous and exciting chapter of the saga came when photos surfaced of Ainge, Steve Pagliuca, Kelly Olynyk, Marcus Smart, and Tom Brady (!) in the Hamptons preparing for their meeting with the star forward.

Durant ultimately wound up leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder in favor of the Golden State Warriors, but was ultimately impressed by Boston's pitch.

"I was ready to just say, 'All right. Let's go. I'm ready to go,' seeing Tom Brady there," Durant told the Boston Herald back in 2016. "Just seeing someone so successful at his craft and just a great ambassador for the game of football and the city of Boston, it was just great to be in the presence of greatness."

Even without Durant, the late 2010s were a fantastic time to be a Celtics fan. The team made back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances in 2017 and 2018, while a mixture of star power and young talent made them an interesting candidate in potential trade discussions when other stars around the association were rumored to be available.

In 2019, then New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis was reportedly on the outs, and the Celtics were one of the teams with the best possible trade packages to land him. Boston could offer future stars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, while still keeping Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward to play alongside Davis.

According to Irving, Durant was also part of this potential plan, as both he and Irving would be free agents that summer.

"In 2018, it was a dream for Kyrie, AD, KD to be on one team and still keep JT (Jayson Tatum) and let him grow and then see how it goes,” Irving said, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “But back then, those young guys weren’t ready to be in trade rumors, man."

In the end, Davis wound up being dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers while Irving and KD still teamed up -- just not in Boston. The two stars joined the Brooklyn Nets that offseason and hoped to compete for titles together.

Fortunately for the Celtics, keeping Tatum and Brown around worked out great. They made another Conference Finals run in the following season, and then returned to the NBA Finals two years later for the first time since 2010.

On the way there, Boston swept Irving, Durant, and the rest of the Nets in their first-round playoff meeting.

That playoff run ended in disappointment rather than triumph, though. The Celtics fell in the Finals to the Warriors in six games, after being on the brink of taking a 3-1 series lead in Game 4.

Weeks later, they almost landed Durant AGAIN. This time, Brad Stevens was in Ainge's seat and reportedly offered Brown, Derrick White, and a first-round pick for the Nets star, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

This might've been the worst potential Durant-to-Boston scenario of the bunch. Sure, KD was still at, or close to, the peak of his basketball powers and would've been a nice co-star for Tatum. The two could've easily kept the Celtics at the same level they'd been and continued to be in the following years. But it's tough to go back and wish that Brown and White's Celtic careers were cut short. They did deliver a championship in 2024, after all.

With the exception of 2016, it's easy to feel like the Celtics were better off not landing KD in these scenarios. The 2008 Big Three team was awesome. I'm not sure anyone would choose keeping Kyrie over Tatum and Brown, and the same can be said for that potential 2022 move.

But... 2016? 2016 would've been immaculate. That's a world where the Celtics probably get to keep both picks that netted them Brown and Tatum, while actively contending for a title with Durant.