The Oklahoma City Thunder are going to have some serious competition from their Western Conference rivals when trying to re-sign Kevin Durant this summer.
There have already been several reports claiming the Golden State Warriors will make a push to sign Durant, and ESPN’s Marc Stein wrote on Friday that the San Antonio Spurs are “just as intrigued” by the thought of being able to add K.D. to the fold. To make matters more interesting, the Thunder are in the middle of a second-round playoff series with the Spurs, giving Durant an extended up-close look at what could be his next team.
According to Stein, there is a theory that the Spurs-Thunder series will play a huge role in determining Durant’s future. If San Antonio prevails, Durant is likely to want to play for more of a contender rather than team that couldn’t make it past the second round. If OKC pulls off the upset, some believe Durant will be inclined to sign a new two-year deal with the Thunder with a player option for the second year, giving his current team one more shot regardless of what happens the rest of the postseason.
The NBA salary cap is expected to increase to slightly above $90 million next season before jumping to above $100 million for the 2017-2018 season. The Spurs, like the Warriors, will have to part ways with several players in order to make room for Durant this summer. We’ve already heard that Tim Duncan could be willing to do some clever things with his contract, so that could be one option for San Antonio.
There are plenty of teams (here’s another) that will make a serious run at Durant, but few can guarantee the type of success that the Warriors and Spurs can. While K.D. has maintained that he is not thinking about free agency, whatever happens in the next couple of weeks will likely go a long way toward helping him make his decision.
