With Kevin Durant’s free agency decision looming, Boston continues to look like one of his best options.
Kevin Durant is finally a free agent. He is at the top of what is a very intriguing 2016 free agency class with numerous stars such as Al Horford, Dwight Howard, Mike Conley and others likely finding new homes for next season.
With the success of the Thunder this year, most thought that he would most likely just re-sign to play with his “Thunder Buddy” Russell Westbrook for life, but then the epic collapse that was the Western Conference Finals happened.
After getting out to a 3-1 lead over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, they struggled as much as they ever have and lost three straight games leading to their elimination. This year marked the first that both Durant and Westbrook were 100% healthy for the entirety of their playoff run since they lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals back in 2012.
The series loss to the Warriors forced Thunder GM Sam Presti to make another big move and trade away defensive stud forward Serge Ibaka to Orlando for Victor Oladipo and others. The trade comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the reason that the Oklahoma City front office decided to let James Harden walk was that they had to pay Durant, Westbrook, AND IBAKA to stay long into the future.
While Oladipo is an athletic stud that could really add to the Thunder whether Durant returns or not, he may not be enough to solely lure Durant to come back with Ibaka being his price tag.
Now that we have established that there may be some doubt in Kevin Durant’s mind about re-signing with OKC, we will look into why the Celtics have a shot in signing him.
I believe that the Celtics’ biggest asset in the eyes of Durant is the fact that they play in the East. The West is obviously superior by far to the East with the Warriors, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers and Grizzlies at the top. The East really only has one standout team right now in the Cavaliers (sorry, Raptors). If Chris Bosh can make a return, the Heat will also be a favorite in the East.
Durant’s addition to the Boston Celtics would immediately put them in the top-2 in the East in terms of expectations and talent on paper. You can never really know how a team will mesh together until they are out on the court.
The Celtics also provide extreme flexibility with their cap space. With so many young players and rookies on the roster, Danny Ainge has plenty of money to throw around and have fun with.
Boston will have just above $42 million (via Sportrac.com) in practical cap space this summer with the expected cap increase for this coming season; which could be higher than previous estimates.
If KD does choose Boston, he and Ainge could put their heads together to try to form the best big three possible with Durant, Isaiah Thomas, and another free agent signee. Al Horford, Hassan Whiteside, and a sign-and-trade for Wizards’ RFA Bradley Beal who has tremendous potential, all would make sense with the team’s current needs.
Another thing that the Celtics can bring to the negotiating table with Durant is the possible sustainability of year after year contention in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics have so much young talent that are on team-friendly contracts that they are in need of trading some of it. With the right moves, Durant could be the face of one of the biggest market teams in the NBA that would be consistently in the top-3 in the standings for years to come with him on the roster.
Smart, Bradley, Crowder, Thomas, and rookie Jaylen Brown are all arguably starting caliber players that have to fill three positions. Add Durant to that mix and it gets even more hectic.
And if you don’t think the #3 pick in the NBA Draft shouldn’t be contributing greatly if not starting year one then you’re nuts. This is why a trade needs to be done in the coming months. See Bradley Beal suggestion a few paragraphs ago.
Durant is being pursued by just about every team in the NBA. The Thunder, Spurs, and Warriors all certainly make sense with the cap going up and his desire to win right away. The LA Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, and Heat also could get in the way of the Celtics bringing him to Boston.
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While a lot of what Durant is considering is only speculation, one can put together what would bother a player of his caliber. He has made it clear that he wants to win now. Not two years from now; next season. Boston could be a big player in the Durant sweepstakes in the coming weeks.