NBA Rumors: Will Kevin Durant leave Warriors in 2017?

During a recent interview, Golden State Warriors president and COO Rick Welts reiterated that their newest star player Kevin Durant has only given the team a one-year commitment.

The free agent deal that shocked the world this summer was easily Kevin Durant heading to the Golden State Warriors, a team that bested his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in the Western Conference Finals. Recently, the president and COO of the Warriors, Rick Welts, spoke about the signing and how Durant has only committed to the team for the short term.

As CBS Sports reported, Welts was recently featured on the Tiki and Tierney radio show. During the interview, he was asked about Durant’s long-term commitment to the team. Welts answered, “There’s no commitment from Kevin,” Welts said. “He signed a one-year contract with a player option.” He added, “We’ve got to be a place that is as good as he thought it was when he selected the Warriors over the other options that he had.”

That gives the Warriors the upcoming season to impress Durant to the point he wants to remain a part of the team. The hardest part to gauge will be how well he meshes with the other personalities, as he’ll be joining the reigning two-time MVP Stephen Curry and his “Splash Brothers” teammate, Klay Thompson, along with the talented-but-sometimes-out-of-control Draymond Green. It’s believed he’ll be the right fit, but one never knows until the season is underway.

In these current times of the NBA, a new “Big Three” seems to get formed every season on a different team. It seemed to start up when the Boston Celtics added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to a team that was led by Paul Pierce. From there, LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami. Both of these franchises won at least one title under their superstar conglomerates. The Cleveland Cavaliers finally won a title with the trio of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love playing for them this past season.

However, there’s been examples of “Big Three” mergers that simply didn’t work out. Those would have to include Charles Barkley joining Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers team that featured Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Sometimes having too many superstar personalities just doesn’t add up to a championship.

For the sake of the Warriors, they’re hoping that this acquisition will pay off quickly, as they recently lost Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli, all of whom were a part of their championship team in 2015. For Kevin Durant’s sake, he’s hoping that adding his talents alongside those of Curry, Thompson and Green will be what’s needed to finally get him that championship ring. If so, expect a new deal to be inked for much longer.

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