Despite suffering a potentially career-altering injury, Kevin Durant will have plenty of offers available in 2019 NBA free agency. Here are his five best options.
Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals may have changed Kevin Durant‘s career forever, but the good news is, it hasn’t ruined his prospects heading into 2019 NBA free agency. Despite suffering a potentially career-altering injury with a ruptured Achilles, KD remains one of the summer’s top targets for teams with max cap space and the patience to wait for his return in 2020-21.
Coming off a season in which he posted a 26-6-6 stat line, and a monster playoff run in which he was averaging an absurd 34.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game on .513/.416/.901 shooting splits. He’s a two-time NBA champion, one-time MVP, two-time Finals MVP, 10-time All-star, nine-time All-NBA selection and by all rights, one of the greatest scorers to ever walk this earth. Basically, Durant will secure a max deal from someone.
There are a few worrisome caveats that come with securing one of the three best players in the world, however. Durant will be 32 years old by the time he sets foot on an NBA court again. He’s already dealt with a Jones fracture in his foot, and Achilles injuries are notoriously difficult to come back from — especially at this age.
With that being said, after declining his $31.5 million player option, KD will have a five-year max deal from the Golden State Warriors waiting for him. Almost any team he expressed interest in joining would immediately drop everything to clear cap space for him, even with the upcoming 2019-20 campaign serving as an extremely pricy redshirt season.
The question is, with KD rehabbing and entering the tail-end of his prime by the time he returns to action, which suitors make the most sense? In order to sort it out, and get a feel of how the rest of the free agency landscape might develop after this massive domino falls, here’s a look at the five best free agency destinations for Kevin Durant this summer.