2013-14 NBA MVP and four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant will be a free agent in 2016. A new report has revealed the Golden State Warriors as the frontrunners to sign Durant should he leave the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Who’s ready for a Woj Bomb?
With the salary cap at an all-time high and teams budgeting for this coming summer, Kevin Durant is going to make a lot of money. By the end of the offseason, there’s only so much standing between KD and the biggest contract in NBA history.
Unfortunately for the rest of the NBA, the Golden State Warriors are the favorites to pry Durant away from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
We’ve heard this before, but in the past, it’s been a blend of speculation and quality reporting that simply arrived too soon. It wasn’t necessarily a case of an unreliable source as much as it was poor timing given how early the report surfaced in 2015-16.
On Tuesday, February 2, NBA rumors guru Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported that, should Durant leave Oklahoma City this coming summer, the Warriors will be the frontrunners to sign him.
"It isn’t only that the NBA champions are determined to recruit Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, the truth is that they’re the most intriguing destination to him. If Durant leaves the Thunder, the Warriors are the significant frontrunners to sign him, league sources told The Vertical."
Everyone sit down, take a deep breath, and do your best to process this information from the NBA’s most trusted, “Sources,” reporter.
In 2014-15, the Warriors won 67 games and ultimately outlasted LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. In 2015-16, Golden State is off to one of the hottest starts in NBA history and is heavily favored to win a second consecutive championship.
In 2016-17, it could be adding a four-time scoring champion and former league MVP to the mix.
Durant was the 2013-14 NBA MVP, and is one of five players in NBA history—the others being Wilt Chamberlain, George Gervin, Allen Iverson, and Michael Jordan—to win at least four scoring titles. He led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals and has made three Western Conference Finals appearances.
A near 7’0″ small forward with elite shooting range and an uncanny ability to take players off the bounce, Durant is the ultimate matchup nightmare.
The player who rivals Durant’s unstoppability as a scorer is already on the Warriors: Stephen Curry. Curry won MVP in 2014-15, is on pace to do so again in 2015-16, and is the league’s leading scorer at 29.4 points per game on a slash line of .506/.451/.914.
Those two coming together would essentially be a modern twist on the LeBron James and Dwyane Wade pairing.
Joining Curry and Durant would be fellow All-NBA sharpshooter Klay Thompson and All-Star power forward Draymond Green. Reigning Finals MVP, 2012 All-Star, and two-time All-Defensive Team honoree Andre Iguodala is under contract through 2016-17, as well.
Exciting as that may be, Wojnarowski notes that Durant has shown no indication that he will leave the Thunder—or even that he’s considering it.
"Make no mistake: Durant isn’t close to gone in Oklahoma City – no decision, no leaning, sources said – but the real threats on the summer market are beginning to reveal themselves. Durant is determined to win – to be an immediate championship contender at 27 years old – and that keeps bringing him back to the Warriors should he make the decision to leave Oklahoma City."
Durant will address his free agency once he’s actually become a free agent, and no sooner.
Durant is already a part of a star-studded roster with he, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka calling Oklahoma City home. Many hypothesized that OKC was a dynasty on the rise, but injuries to Westbrook in 2013, Ibaka in 2014, and Durant in 2015 successfully derailed those chances.
The question is, will Durant re-sign with the Thunder to finish what he’s started? Or can the Warriors create the next Big Three—or four or five, depending on who you ask—by luring Durant to Northern California?
Nothing is for certain, but one thing is all but guaranteed: this coming summer is going to be one heck of a ride.