NBA Rumors: San Antonio Spurs covet Kevin Durant in free agency
By John Buhler
The Spurs reportedly covet a big three of their own in Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Kevin Durant if they land Durant in free agency.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein where impending free agent small forward of the Oklahoma City Thunder Kevin Durant will land in 2016 NBA free agency will hinge on what transpires in the No. 3 Thunder’s Western Conference Semifinals series with the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs.
The growing belief is that if the Thunder knock off the favored Spurs in the second round that he will re-up with Oklahoma City. However, should the Spurs come out on top over the Thunder, Durant more than likely will play 2016-17 on another team.
Stein writes that one team that wants in on the Durant free agency sweepstakes just so happens to be the team he is playing in the Western Conference Playoffs in San Antonio. The idea behind landing Durant in San Antonio would mean that the Spurs would have their new big three in Durant to play alongside small forward Kawhi Leonard and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
Even if both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili retire at the end of the year, San Antonio would have to sacrifice many key rotational players like Boris Diaw and Danny Green to make the salary cap work out, similarly how the Spurs had to let former starting center Tiago Splitter go to be able sign Aldridge last summer.
While the thought of a big three of Aldridge, Durant, and Leonard would make San Antonio arguably the favorite to win the 2017 NBA Finals, one has to question how the Spurs will appropriately use spacing with those three players.
Aldridge is especially reluctant to play center, as he prefers to have a traditional center playing alongside him at the four. While Durant is taller than Leonard, they both have been classified as small forwards in this era of the NBA. Perhaps Leonard would have to become a shooting guard for the Spurs to trot out Leonard, Durant, and Aldridge two through four?
Either way, this would present both an unbelievable corps three for head coach Gregg Popovich to work with next year, as well as an interesting coaching structure for the Spurs to make it work. It would be a tad more challenging than what the Cleveland Cavaliers have had to work through with LeBron James and Kevin Love who both play essentially the same position.
While all 30 teams would love to be in the Durant 2016 free agency sweepstakes, it now seems that the Spurs are throwing their hat into the ring with the realistic shot at grabbing the superstar small forward of the Thunder.
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