Per Woj: Golden State are "significant frontrunners" on Durant if he leaves OKC

[mef730]

I wouldn't even post this link if it were somebody other than Woj...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--warriors-serious-threat-to-sign-kevin-durant-182559375.html

The Golden State Warriors’ plan of pursuit predates their 2015 championship run, a bold plot to declare the futility of resistance. It isn’t only that the NBA champions are determined to recruit Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. The truth is that they’re the most intriguing destination to him. If Durant leaves the Thunder, the Warriors are the significant frontrunners to sign him, league sources told The Vertical.
The Warriors already have everything and yet they’re threatening to take more now. Steph Curry. Klay Thompson. Draymond Green. Committed ownership. Bob Myers, the executive of the year. Steve Kerr, a championship coach. Yes, Golden State has everything, including the ability to create the salary-cap space and a belief that Durant’s persona could fit seamlessly – even onto a potential two-time defending champion.

Mike

[j804]

Wow ridiculous

[coffee425]

Nah wouldnt work. Too much shooting.

[fairweatherfan]

That would be preposterous.  But you'd have to think Durant would be concerned about the impression that he's the kid in the pickup game who can't win with his team so he just finds a way to latch onto the already-stacked dominant squad.  Durant doesn't seem to have a lot of ego though, so he might not care.

This does underscore one of the big problems (which some may not see as a problem) with the big salary cap jump - there's a unique opportunity for the most talent-laden teams to still add a superstar or two to the mix.  Whether this specific move happens or not, I'll bet we'll see it somewhere this offseason.

[bballdog384]

Looks like the C's just have to beat the Warriors in the Finals this year! All we need to land Durant!

[acieEarl]

Maybe it's just me but I don't see Durant leaving OKC. He's never badmouthed OKC and they love him there. Why wouldn't OKC pay him top dollar? I get Durant could have more endorsements in a bigger city but he doesn't seem like the "Melo" type of guy. I'd be surprised if he leaves.

[pearljammer10]

Makes too much sense from my eyes. S+T for Barnes and future picks (cause I assume they can't sign him outright).

Imagine a small ball line of:

Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Durant/Green

[Moranis]

Thompson, Green, and Curry alone are 40 million.  Iggy and Bogut add another 22 million.  Barnes is due for a big raise.  Thus, they would need to have some fairly significant salary dumps to create the room to sign Durant and it might very well mean no Barnes.  This is where a salary like Amir's becomes so valuable.  Boston could trade Amir, plus some other asset for Barnes (sign and traded) or something like that.  Could clear GS' salary problem and get Boston the SF it needs.

[apc]

Not good for NBA if that happens. we might as well rebuild for the next 5-7 years.

[rondohondo]

Makes too much sense from my eyes. S+T for Barnes and future picks (cause I assume they can't sign him outright).

Imagine a small ball line of:

Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Durant/Green

c's could blow that offer away  by sending Crowder , Brk 2016, BRK 2018 , Dallas pick , Rozier and Hunter

[Moranis]

Makes too much sense from my eyes. S+T for Barnes and future picks (cause I assume they can't sign him outright).

Imagine a small ball line of:

Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Durant/Green

It makes more sense for GS to sign and trade Barnes somewhere else and pick up value for him, and clear the room to just sign Durant.  That said, there is nothing gained by Barnes in a sign and trade so he has no incentive to do one unless the team he wants to go to doesn't have enough room to sign him.

[Eddie20]

I heard it was Brooklyn

[Evantime34]

Two ways this could effect the Celtics

If the Warriors sign Durant they need to renounce Barnes and might not even match if Barnes got an offer sheet at the beginning of free agency (assuming Durant takes his time deciding).

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-the-warriors-can-afford-to-sign-kevin-durant-043710075.html

Outside of those well-known suitors – Washington, Houston and Miami – there’s another California team determined to make a bid for Durant, league sources tell The Vertical: The Los Angeles Clippers. If the opportunity comes to move Blake Griffin and replace him with Durant, the Clippers won’t hesitate, sources said.

Teams are calling on Griffin trades now, but Clippers president and coach Doc Rivers seems determined to play the year out with Griffin and see how far the team advances in the playoffs. Eventually, the Clippers will determine how intrigued Durant might be in becoming a Big Three with Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan.

The Thunder would resist a sign-and-trade deal until the very end – until they were sure Durant was leaving them – but Griffin, an Oklahoma native, could be a fascinating part of that scenario.

If Durant is interested in the Clippers wouldn't it make more sense to trade Blake to a team with cap space for picks rather than work a sign and trade with OKC.

[celticsclay]

This would be veeery bad for the league. This year there is a certain novelty in the warriors winning at a rate that threatens the all-time record. If they are 50-5 next year and just blowing out everyone by 20-30 points than it becomes something that gets pretty boring for the NBA (in my opinion) you couple that with the fact that it may or less give a death sentence to one of the small market teams (they have no chance of competing for a title against that golden state team with Barnes, Westbrook and Ibaka). Plus it makes the seasons of most of the other teams except maybe the spurs pretty pointless.

I thought it was pretty bad for the east when Lebron, Wade and Bosh signed up. Eliminated two teams from being interesting and made the East regular season very pointless and unfun. This is that plan on steroids. 2 of the top 3 players in the league teaming up in their prime along side 2 other all stars also in their 20s? It is just dumb. I can't imagine people associated with the league would want this to occur.

[jpotter33]

That would be preposterous.  But you'd have to think Durant would be concerned about the impression that he's the kid in the pickup game who can't win with his team so he just finds a way to latch onto the already-stacked dominant squad.  Durant doesn't seem to have a lot of ego though, so he might not care.

This does underscore one of the big problems (which some may not see as a problem) with the big salary cap jump - there's a unique opportunity for the most talent-laden teams to still add a superstar or two to the mix.  Whether this specific move happens or not, I'll bet we'll see it somewhere this offseason.

Yeah, I think it'd look even worse than Lebron going to Miami. Golden State probably wins it all again this year, and Curry is probably MVP again. So KD would most likely be going to a historically good team in Golden State, who is just coming off of two straight championships with the league MVP from the last two years. How would that be any different than Ray Allen going to the Heat? KD would never be thought of as more than a second or even third fiddle again.