Kevin Durant’s Free Agency Destination Power Rankings

As NBA free agency gears up for Kevin Durant’s highly awaited decision, here are some power rankings for his top potential free agency destinations.

Heading into another highly anticipated NBA free agency period, there’s no question that Kevin Durant is the biggest name to watch. Even if LeBron James had seriously considered leaving Cleveland for the second time (which, win or lose in the Finals, was never the case), Durant still would’ve been the hottest commodity on the market.

As a 27-year-old superstar on track for the Hall of Fame, KD is a once-in-a-lifetime talent as a 6’9″ flurry of limbs with terrific handles, an all-encompassing wingspan and a silky smooth stroke.

Coming off a season in which he averaged an MVP-esque 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game on .505/.386/.898 shooting splits, helped the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat a 67-win San Antonio Spurs team and used a newfound commitment to the defensive end to push the Golden State Warriors to the brink of elimination, KD’s value is as high as it’s ever been.

The question is, where should the NBA’s most coveted free agent go this summer?

According to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Durant has free agency meetings scheduled with the Thunder, Warriors, Spurs, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat. But before the craziness of the free agency period begins, here are power rankings for his best potential destinations.

Next: No. 8

8. Houston Rockets

A year ago, the Houston Rockets might have felt like legitimate players in a Kevin Durant sweepstakes. James Harden was coming off an MVP-caliber season, the Rockets reached the Western Conference Finals, Dwight Howard was still good, Donatas Motiejunas had a functioning back, Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza weren’t complete trash, etc, etc.

A year later, a reunion between two burgeoning OKC stars feels like little more than a pipe dream for the Rocket faithful.

For starters, reports have already emerged that Durant would not consider Houston as a free agency destination despite his ongoing friendship with Harden.

For another thing, the roster will likely look very different next season as Dwight Howard opts out of the final $23.3 million of his contract, D-Mo and Terrence Jones hit restricted free agency and Ty Lawson, Jason Terry and Josh Smith all come off the books.

Finally, it’s important to note that every positive trend from the first paragraph of this slide has since been reversed by the 2015-16 season.

Like it or not, Harden is a singularly talented offensive player whose numbers are far better than his defense, leadership qualities or overall impact on his team’s success would indicate. The Rockets would be aimless without him, but they’re not exactly heat-seeking missiles under his command either.

Howard, the team’s second best player, will be gone faster than you can say “Pringles,” and speaking of which, head coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t seem like the kind of coach Durant would want to play for. Harden and Durant may be friends, and the Rockets will have cap space to make some moves, but KD to the Rockets is an absolute stretch at this point.

Next: No. 7

7. New York Knicks

Durant currently only has six free agency sit-downs planned, but according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the New York Knicks are another team he will consider when they attempt to make a pitch.

As of right now, it appears Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony is already pitching the four-time NBA scoring leader to join him in the Big Apple.

The Knicks have been surprisingly active in all the offseason chatter over the last week, trading Robin Lopez for former MVP Derrick Rose, reportedly making Joakim Noah a top free agency target and being involved in some early Dwight Howard chatter.

While it’s commendable for Phil Jackson to want to put a more competitive team around Melo — and also necessary to have any chance of appealing to Kevin Durant — adding an injury-prone former MVP and another injury-prone center (in either scenario) does not exactly put New York in contention for KD’s services.

Melo and KD have been friends for a long time, but even if Derrick Rose represents a major upgrade at the point guard spot over Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant, he’s nowhere near the star-caliber player he once was.

Rose showed flashes of brilliance last season when he played 66 games (the most he’s played since the 2010-11 season), but he was pretty average overall.

Despite picking up his numbers after the All-Star break during Jimmy Butler‘s absence, Rose only averaged 16.4 points and 4.7 assists per game on .427/.293/793 shooting splits with a below-average Player Efficiency Rating of 13.5 for the season.

Noah (4.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 27 games) is coming off his worst/most injury-shortened season, but even at age 31, he’ll command a max from someone.

Howard, whose game is dependent upon his athleticism, is no longer the game-changer he once was. Though he averaged a respectable 13.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game last season, he’s been unable to stay healthy over the past few seasons and is already 30 years old.

Snagging D-Rose takes the Knicks out of the Mike Conley sweepstakes, and between two ball-dominant players like Rose and Melo (not to mention Kristaps Porzingis, who needs touches as the future of the franchise), where would Kevin Durant fit in anyway?

If this were 2011, a possible core of Rose, KD, Melo and Noah/Howard would’ve made the Knicks instant title contenders. Five years later, however, it’s hard to see A) that scenario coming to fruition and B) that core giving the Cleveland Cavaliers a true run for their money in the East.

Next: No. 6

6. Miami Heat

If we’ve learned anything over the last few years (read: “decades”), it’s that you can never count out Pat Riley. Unfortunately for him and the Miami Heat, it’s hard to see how this team will be able to do much in free agency with so much of its roster in a state of flux this summer.

Hassan Whiteside is an unrestricted free agent, the Heat don’t own his Bird Rights (which would’ve allowed them to offer an extra year and more money on a contract) and Whiteside will not be swayed by loyalty to the organization that gave him the opportunity for his big breakthrough.

Dwyane Wade, the greatest player in the history of the franchise, is another unrestricted free agent and after earning $20 million last year, he probably won’t be taking a pay cut as the NBA’s salary rises to a projected $94 million.

Luol Deng, Joe Johnson, Udonis Haslem, Gerald Green, Amar’e Stoudemire and Dorell Wright all come off the books this summer as unrestricted free agents as well, and Tyler Johnson will be a restricted free agent.

The only players on the books for next season are Goran Dragic (who would probably have to be traded to sign KD while also re-signing Wade and Whiteside), Chris Bosh (whose career has been threatened by blood clots), Josh McRoberts, Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson (non-guaranteed contract) and Briante Weber (non-guaranteed contract).

This gives the Heat flexibility, because even if they guaranteed those two non-guaranteed contracts, they’d only have about $50 million on the books. It’s certainly not impossible to make a Durant union happen.

But re-signing Wade will eat into a massive portion of that cap space, and since Kevin Durant would command a max contract starting at around $25.9 million, that’d leave Riley very little flexibility to put some talent and depth around a Wade-KD core.

Between Bosh’s health, the financial sacrifices that would be necessary from both Wade and Whiteside and the question marks about the rest of the roster, reports that the Heat and Warriors are the two frontrunners feel off base.

It’s just hard to see a core built around two players already in their 30s appealing to KD, especially with so many questions needing to be answered in regards to the team’s depth and supporting cast.

Next: No. 5

5. Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers‘ Big Thee of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan felt like it was approaching its last gasp last season, and that was before Griffin was unable to stay healthy and stay out of trouble.

However, CP3 was a third-tier MVP candidate last season and the Clippers proved they could win games by surrounding Paul-Jordan pick and rolls with shooters on the perimeter. Inserting a shooter like Durant into that equation would make the Clippers bonafide title contenders in a way they’ve never been during the Blake Griffin era.

If the Thunder are going to lose Kevin Durant, a sign-and-trade for Griffin would make sense for both teams. OKC would get better compensation for KD than they’d get anywhere else, while the Clippers would get a better player who would fit in better with their offense and win-now timeline.

Griffin is a transcendent star at his best, he’s worked hard to add some range to his jump shot and he has chemistry with Jordan in tight spaces in the paint. It wasn’t long ago that he was the best player in the 2015 NBA Playoffs, averaging 25.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game.

Spacing would be more of a problem for OKC, but Griffin could develop that same kind of paint chemistry with Steven Adams and he’d enjoy a younger, more dynamic floor general in Russell Westbrook.

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Unfortunately, sign-and-trade deals of this magnitude are exceedingly rare, even if it’d make sense for both sides. There’s also the slight problem that the Clippers would still have to worry about making their way through the Warriors and Spurs in the stacked Western Conference.

The Clippers would also have to be under the luxury tax threshold for a sign-and-trade to work, and in that scenario, Durant’s salary would only be $20 million instead of the $25.9 million he’d be eligible for by just signing with a team straight up. Sign-and-trades also require the player to sign for at least three years — a problem for a player whose best move would be to opt out again next summer.

If Durant is not going to join one of those top-two contenders, why wouldn’t he just stay in OKC where he’s comfortable, where he’ll make the most money and where he’s already proven he can knock off — or at least seriously challenge — those Spurs/Warriors juggernauts?

Next: No. 4

4. San Antonio Spurs

At first glance, this may seem too low for a contender of this caliber. The San Antonio Spurs were defeated by Kevin Durant’s Thunder in the playoffs, but they were a 67-win juggernaut that boasts a dynamic duo of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge for the foreseeable future.

Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili may be nearing their ride off into the sunset, but a new era for the Spurs is already underway.

San Antonio’s biggest need may be finding a long-term replacement for Parker (Mike Conley, anyone?) or Duncan (Al Horford, anyone?), but if Durant has expressed interest in joining your team, you set everything down and make that meeting your No. 1 priority.

Though Leonard and Durant both play the 3, that’s hardly a main concern when your two wing players are Kevin Freaking Durant and Kawhi Freaking Leonard. If anything, it could represent the birth of another small-ball juggernaut.

However, there’s no question that building a Kawhi-KD-Aldridge trio would come at the cost of one of San Antonio’s perpetual strengths — its depth.

In order to clear out the requisite cap space to add Durant, the Spurs would have to renounce the cap holds of free agents Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Boban Marjanovic; waive Jonathon Simmons; release the cap holds of former first round picks Livio Jean-Charles and Nikola Milutinov; trade Boris Diaw without taking on addition salary; and possibly trade Danny Green or Patty Mills to free up more space.

That’s quite a hefty toll for one player, even if that player is Kevin Durant. It would probably require Duncan and Ginobili to walk away from the game of basketball and San Antonio would need to really score in the bargain bin to replace some of their depth.

Again, a Kawhi-KD-Aldridge trio would probably make it all worth it, and Durant joining the Spurs would automatically knock OKC out of the title contender category out West.

But it’s hard to see KD joining his Western rival after battling them for so long, and the Spurs might be just as deadly by keeping their depth relatively intact and just pursuing Mike Conley or Al Horford.

Next: No. 3

3. Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are an intriguing option, even with general manager Danny Ainge largely failing to cash in on all his accumulated assets on draft night. Because of their youth, team chemistry, Brad Stevens and, let’s face it, their far easier path to the Finals out East, the Celtics are one option that can’t be overlooked.

It seems odd to consider the Celtics as serious contenders for Kevin Durant considering they’ve failed to make it out of the first round in their last two playoffs, but Boston is one of the few teams on this list that would be able to largely keep its core intact while adding the 2014 MVP.

By not making an all-in move on draft night, the Celtics maintained their financial flexibility with a nine-player core that takes up only $34 million in guaranteed cap space. That would leave Boston with enough room to bring about Durant AND another max-level player…which they did by landing Al Horford with a four-year, $113 million max deal.

This young and hard-working team has already been surprisingly good in the East without a go-to star. Adding a player like Al Horford elevates them into the upper tier alongside the Toronto Raptors, with both still looking up at the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bring Kevin Durant into the picture and suddenly Boston might be on level ground with King James for the first time since the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett era.

The best part for this team on the rise is that it’s also sustainable. Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder comprise Boston’s young core, and thanks to the Brooklyn Nets’ ill-fated trade for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce back in 2013, the Celtics can swap first round picks with Brooklyn in 2017 and they own the Nets’ 2018 first-rounder as well.

What that means is a likely top-five pick over the next two years (with a good chance of it being the No. 1 overall pick next season, seeing as how the Nets just traded Thaddeus Young and will have very little appeal to free agents).

LeBron James just pulled off one of the greatest upsets in NBA Finals history by unseating the Warriors as NBA champions, but at age 31, his grip on the Eastern Conference won’t last forever. At some point another contender will emerge from the East, and Durant is certainly talented enough to bump the Celtics into that category over the next 1-2 years — especially with Horford now on board.

Boston may not have the outright firepower that Golden State, San Antonio or Oklahoma City possess, but the Celtics have a legendary basketball tradition, a town of diehard fans, enough cap space to sign Durant and Horford to the max contracts they wanted, and enough young talent to make the Celtics a sustainable contender for years to come.

Next: No. 2

2. Golden State Warriors

In terms of basketball fit, the Golden State Warriors are easily the best option for Kevin Durant. If the Dubs could win 73 games and come one game shy of repeating as back-to-back NBA champions with Harrison Barnes starting at small forward, just imagine what they could accomplish by upgrading that spot to Kevin Durant.

There’d be a certain amount of sacrifice required to make this happen. The Dubs would have to let go of Leandro Barbosa, Marreese Speights, Anderson Varejao, Brandon Rush, Ian Clark, James Michael McAdoo; withdraw their qualifying offers for restricted free agents Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli; and then trade Andrew Bogut‘s contract without taking on any salary.

The Warriors’ “Strength In Numbers” identity would change overnight, the Dubs would need some definite help at the center position and they’d have to fill out the rest of the roster with minimum-level contracts.

However, there’s no denying that a Stephen Curry–Klay Thompson-Kevin Durant-Draymond Green core would be an absolute terror for the rest of the league to deal with.

Remember all those wide open corner threes Harry B missed in the Finals? Good luck with Kevin Durant missing those. Remember how Curry wasn’t the same after his MCL sprain and the Splash Brothers disappeared in the season’s defining moments? Don’t expect that to happen to Curry, Klay AND Durant at the same time.

The Dubs would need to convince useful role players to sign on for very little money, but the prospect of playing with that kind of elite four-man core would be a pretty effective persuasion tactic for role players looking for a ring.

It seems odd for the NBA’s all-time winningest regular season team to consider such a major shakeup, but considering the way Harry B and Ezeli flamed out in the playoffs and the fact that the Dubs failed to complete their historic season, Golden State wouldn’t be doing its due diligence if it didn’t try to add one of the five best players in the NBA.

After all, a team with Curry, Thompson, KD, Draymond, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston would be easy favorites to win the 2017 title, no matter how they fill out the rest of the roster.

Next: No. 1

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

The Warriors would give Durant the opportunity to play with his most star-studded roster, but when you take into account the financial and emotional aspects of such a decision, the Oklahoma City Thunder should be considered the favorites to keep their MVP.

For starters, the Thunder are still a terrific basketball fit for Durant, especially after a draft-day trade sent Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the 11th overall pick in this year’s draft, Domantas Sabonis.

The trade makes the Thunder a scary-good small-ball team, especially if Oladipo can make more of the open threes that Andre Roberson routinely bricked. Ilyasova is not necessarily a starting-caliber 4 anymore, but he’ll spread the floor well enough on an elite team that will pose so many different threats to opposing defenses.

Not only that, but even with Ibaka’s departure, can you imagine trying to score on a Westbrook-Oladipo-Roberson-Durant-Adams lineup? Good luck with that.

Sabonis is one of the more NBA-ready prospects in the draft and the Thunder’s balance between having enough talent to contend for titles and still having enough room for internal growth rivals that of any team in the league right now.

Steven Adams is only going to get better and at the tender age of 22, may already be one of the best centers in the association. Cameron Payne will get more run time to improve this season and make up for his disastrous playoff initiation.

OKC just added Sabonis to a group of youngsters that includes Oladipo, Adams, Payne, Andre Roberson and Mitch McGary. There will be tons of internal growth for that group, which is a scary thought considering that team already has Kevin Durant and freaking Russell Westbrook.

Valley of the Suns

Speaking of Westbrook, is there any point guard with whom Durant is more comfortable than his brother in arms? These two have been going to battle together for years now and were painfully close to returning to the Finals after not one, but (what would’ve been) two of the greatest playoff upsets of all time.

Russ and Durant have a rapport that few other star tandems in the NBA have, and it’s entirely possible KD would rather remain the No. 1 on his own team than share the ball so often with the Splash Brothers on a team that just ousted him from the playoffs.

Then there’s the financial side to consider. If Durant wants long-term stability, it makes more sense to sign five-year, $149 million extension with the Thunder than a four-year, $110.6 million deal with a new team.

If Durant wants to maximize his potential earnings and take advantage of another massive leap in the NBA salary cap next summer, it still makes the most sense to sign a two-year deal (with a player option for the second year) with the Thunder.

That deal would be worth $25.9 million for the first year no matter which team he chose, but the Thunder would still have his Bird Rights and therefore, if he were to sign a long-term deal next summer, he could earn over $200 million with a five-year extension from the Thunder…as opposed to around $150 million on a four-year deal with another team.

If Durant takes a “1 + 1 deal,” he’ll make the same for the 2016-17 season no matter what. But all the financial incentives give the Thunder the edge after that, especially in the likely event that Durant signs a two-year deal with a player option, opts out next summer and then cashes in with a long-term max in 2017.

KD loves Oklahoma City. It’s where he’s played his entire career, it’s where he’s formed a bond with the fans and his superstar partner Westbrook, and financially, it’s where it makes the most sense for him to sign.

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The way that LeBron James was unfairly labeled a “championship chaser” after The Decision was not lost on anyone, and rather than stack the deck by jumping ship to another title contender, Kevin Durant might prefer to follow a later chapter in LeBron’s career by bringing a long-awaited title to a city that’s embraced him as one of their own.