L.A. Clippers impressed in audition for Kevin Durant

The L.A. Clippers may not be the front runner to sign Kevin Durant this summer, but they surely impressed him during the first round of the playoffs.

“We have everything to lose.”

That was Doc Rivers’ response as he pushed back against the idea that his eighth-seeded Clippers — who are rebuilding in the post-Lob City era and traded its best player mid-season — are playing the top-seeded Golden State Warriors with house money. So what do they have to lose? “The first round,” Rivers put simply before Game 3 in Los Angeles. But there was even more at stake in the series than wins and losses: For a team in the market to add a superstar this summer, it was a rare audition in front of Kevin Durant. One they had to nail.

Durant’s free agency has been an idle distraction for the Warriors all season and word on the streets is that Durant is on his way to New York. If the Knicks are indeed the front runner, that meant the Clippers had to put on their best airs in an attempt to lure him away. Game 3, the first in L.A., was a busy affair. Several people with ties or interest in Durant were present, including Durant’s agent Rich Kleiman, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker and, on the Warriors side, general manager Bob Myers wasn’t too far from his greatest-ever free agent addition.

The Clippers lost the series 4-2, and played much better than anyone predicted. They ended up winning more games in Oakland than the Warriors — they officially punched them in the face. The 31-point comeback in Game 2 and improbable win in Game 5 will give the Clips something nice to hang on the refrigerator and admire over the summer. They had several runs during the series where they looked like the team that cared more, and unabashedly went toe-to-toe with the two-time champs.

“I don’t like losing, period, in anything,” Rivers said after Game 4. “My guess is we did make some mistakes. There’s no doubt about that. But overall, I loved how we fought. I loved how we kept coming back.”

That fight may be the Clippers’ greatest selling point, especially when you consider their roommate folded after the trade deadline, Durant’s own Warriors developed a nasty habit of phoning in several regular season games, and the Knicks spent the 2018-19 season losing on purpose.

Durant prides himself on being a hooper — his word, not mine. A basketball purist. He bristles when asked about outside influences or media attention, but goes long when asked about Xs and Os. The Clippers weren’t going to impress Durant with a flashy show of Los Angeles celebrity, Russell Crowe and hotdog cannon be darned. The Clippers can only win over Durant with one thing, and that’s basketball.

The Clippers will go into the summer with the potential to create enough cap space to add two players on max contracts. The dots between L.A. and Kawhi Leonard have long been connected, but the Clippers are dreaming big. They want two superstars and the most impressive free agency haul since the Miami Heat’s swing in 2010.

The players under contract make up a strong core: Sixth Man of the Year candidates Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, plus rookies Landry Shamet, Jerome Robinson and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They could also return Ivica Zubac and veteran Patrick Beverley.

After several on-court kerfuffles, Durant made headlines by calling Beverley “a pest” during the series. Beverley poked and prodded and headbutted in an effort to get under Durant’s skin and it seemed on many occasion he did. In Game 2, Durant had one of the worst playoff performances of his career: eight shot attempts, nine turnovers. But even when calling him a pest, Durant seemed to talk about Beverley with appreciation.

“When he run up on me like a pitbull, grab me, hold me, I don’t mind it,” Durant said. “That’s how he make his money. That’s how he feed his family.”

We’ve seen Durant get over a heated series before. In 2016, Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Warriors in one of the more competitive Western Conference Finals of the decade. Then Durant up and signed with the Warriors a few months later.

Despite the lopsided result, the Clippers showed they were there — in KD’s parlance — to hoop. With Beverley, Harrell and Williams, they showed off a veteran edge (Williams is the beneficiary of an Iverson-like reverence among NBA players). Gilgeous-Alexander’s breakout performance in Game 4 presented a young player who can grow alongside a superstar.

“I seen Shai come out and wanted to impose his will in the game early,” Durant said. “25 points, he got them going to start the game. He had 14 in the first quarter, I think, and knocking down a three, getting to the rim, putting pressure on our defense, he played with no fear tonight, and that’s what kept them in the game most of the game.”

One series, 25 pre-ripened points and a few techs won’t be enough to sell Durant on the Clippers, but throw in the cultural foundation, organizational fortitude, Doc Rivers and Jerry West and there’s more than a handful of PowerPoint slides for Ballmer to woop and work with. A  perfect situation for Durant may not exist in the NBA–at least not in his mind. On paper, the Clippers are as good an option available.

“They don’t stop, man. They’re one of those teams, they make you feel them all game,” Durant said during the series. “And even when you go home after the game you’re going to be thinking about them because they’re tough.”