Kevin Durant Rumors: Spurs, Warriors biggest threats
By John Buhler
Kevin Durant could re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency, but the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State Warriors are their biggest threats.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder will meet with several prospective teams in 2016 NBA free agency “with the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs regarded by many rival executives as the two biggest threats to lure Durant away from the Thunder.”
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Seemingly any team with available salary cap space and a need for a go-to scorer out on the wing will try to set up a meeting with the highly coveted Durant, but it seems that the Thunder star has decidedly narrowed his focus to three teams: staying with Oklahoma City or leaving the Thunder for either Golden State or San Antonio.
Durant’s Thunder bested the aging Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals in six games. With aging stars like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, the thought behind Durant going to the Spurs would be to form a new big three in San Antonio with Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.
In one of the most exciting Western Conference Finals in recent memory, the Thunder fell to the Warriors in seven games after being up three games to one on Golden State. The idea behind Durant going to Golden State would be to replace small forward Harrison Barnes, who will command more money that general manager Bob Myers would pay for the veteran wing.
Ideally, Durant should re-up with the Thunder on a one-year deal with a player option for 2017-18, so that he can again re-enter NBA free agency next summer with All-Star teammate point guard Russell Westbrook.
Durant would be hard pressed to find a better situation that he is already in with the Thunder, but the threat of him leaving for either Golden State or San Antonio is starting to feel more like real possibilities for the elite NBA forward.
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