Report: Knicks would not offer Kevin Durant max contract

The New York Knicks were not prepared to offer Kevin Durant a full max contract offer, according to one report.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Sunday that the Knicks were not going to offer Durant a full max contract over his injury.

The Knicks and owner Jim Dolan were not prepared to offer Kevin Durant a full max contract due to concerns over his recovery from the Achilles injury, league sources tell me and @wojespn. Knicks officials are in Los Angeles tonight, meeting with free agents such as Julius Randle.

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 30, 2019

The big question here is whether the Knicks decided they weren’t going to offer Durant the full max and that’s why he chose Brooklyn, or whether the Knicks were turned down and are trying to convince everyone “we didn’t want him anyway.”

This seems like the type of line a team that is getting clowned for striking out in free agency would try to say to save face. When you’re the Knicks and you traded away Kristaps Porzingis and your last real frenzy was “Linsanity,” you take Durant Achilles injury or not, no hesitation.