The Kevin Durant free agency sweepstakes are set to begin in less than a week, and Durant has reportedly narrowed his decision down to six teams.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Durant’s representatives at Roc Nation are working to finalize meetings with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics. Wojnarowski reports that the Thunder are still the favorites but that the Warriors “have Durant’s attention.”
The two surprises on the list are the Clippers and Celtics. The Clippers don’t have enough salary cap space to sign Durant, so they would likely need to move one of their core pieces. Interestingly enough, a previous report indicated that L.A. would not hesitate to swap Blake Griffin for Durant.
Perhaps the biggest advantage the Celtics have is that they have enough cap space to sign two max free agents. There have been rumblings that Durant wants to play with fellow free agent Al Horford, and Boston could sign both K.D. and Horford without shuffling much around. Durant has supposedly given the Celtics a list of players he wants to play with, and there’s a good chance Horford is on that list.
If you read what Durant said earlier this month about his decision, you know he is not interested in playing in a market like L.A. just to make more money in endorsements. Since the Thunder were so close to reaching the NBA Finals this season, a two-year deal with an opt-out after the first still makes sense if Durant wants to give his current team one more shot.
