Would the NBA prefer to see Kevin Durant leave the Golden State Warriors after the season? One informed NBA insider thinks so.
Zach Lowe had a discussion with Mike Greenberg on the “I’m interested” podcast that was published on Tuesday. The discussion began when Greenberg said he feels like he already knows before the season begins that Golden State will win the championship, which takes away some of the fun. He asked Lowe to weigh in, and Lowe agreed that it’s probably a bit of a bad thing for the league. He also said he thinks people with the league hope Durant leaves after the season.
“In the aggregate it is probably a little bit of a bad thing,” Lowe said. “I can tell you there are a lot of people in the league office, who if you gave them the truth serum we always talk about, would say ‘we would like Durant to not be there next year.’ And that when (DeMarcus) Cousins signed there, they just were like, ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me.'”
There has long been speculation that Warriors’ dynasty could begin to break up after this season. Klay Thompson’s contract will be up after the season, though he wants to remain with the team. Durant can also opt out after the season, and there has been talk of him going elsewhere once he (potentially) collects a third championship ring.
Having such a dominant team around probably is bad for the competitive balance in the league, which is why Adam Silver said it was “not ideal” for the NBA back in 2016. Even as recently as June, Silver said the league might try to address the Warriors’ superteam issue.
