The frenzy to sign NBA free agents is right around the corner and I have to say I was a little surprised that Kevin Durant decided to go into the free agent market with his injury instead of staying another year with the Golden State Warriors and rehabbing.
I’m not sure what or how things are worded in NBA contracts, but Durant had what I’d call an option year on his deal with Golden State that would’ve paid him over $30 million dollars, but even though he’s going to miss the entire 2019-20 season he declined that option and chose free agency.
Now even though Durant will miss all of next season it hasn’t stopped teams from lining up to throw money at him. It appears as Durant has four teams lined up to speak to once free agency gets under way. The Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the Warriors will be the teams that will get the pleasure of paying Durant a boatload of money.
Now Golden State can give him more years and money than an other team, but it seemed as though Durant was ready to move on from the Warriors, but will see. It seems like the Knicks have been mentioned along with Durant since people realized he’d be a free agent two seasons ago. The Nets are kind of newcomers to the Durant sweepstakes, but they have the cap space to add Durant and one other top free agent; so why not jump in. I haven’t really heard the Clippers being associated with Durant. It was thought that Kawhi Leonard would be the top free agent target for the Clippers, but I guess you always need a back up plan and even though he’d miss a year signing Durant would be as good as any.
The big question for whatever team signs Durant is what kind of a player are they going to be getting. Durant was a different type of player when he entered the NBA. There weren’t very many players his size that possessed his skill set and even though the game has evolved he’s still a one of a kind type player.
Durant will be 32 years old when he returns from his injury. He’s played 849 regular season games and 139 playoff games in his 9-year career. During the regular season for his career Durant averages 36.9 minutes per game, but in the playoffs those minutes jump to 40.3 per game. With the new term in the NBA being “load management” you have to wonder what a Durant’s minutes will look like when he returns.
It’s going to be a big risk to whatever team signs Durant as I’m sure you’ve heard the experts on television saying that when he returns he won’t be the player he use to be. To me every case is different and we won’t really know what kind of player Durant is until he returns.
How would you feel if your favorite NBA was the one that signed Durant?
In some other NBA free agent dealings it caught me off guard that Kawhi Leonard was going to meet with the Los Angeles Lakers. What seemed even odder to me was the fact that Leonard wants former Lakers President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson at that meeting along with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. Since Johnson is no longer employed by the team per NBA rules he isn’t allowed to be at this type of meeting, but since it the Lakers I’m sure the NBA will make an exception and allow it to happen.
Just look at some of the other things the Lakers have managed to get away with lately. LeBron James tampers with Anthony Davis, but somehow it was Davis who the NBA ended up fining. Then there was the trade of Davis to the Lakers which some was amended this week even though it was agreed to months ago. I’m guessing that the NBA realized that the Lakers needed to be able to sign one more big time free agent to be competitive this coming season; so they allowed them to change the Davis trade even though the New Orleans Pelicans didn’t receive anything else. The Lakers turned the deal with New Orleans into a three team deal by sending Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Jemerrio Jones and a 2022 2nd round pick to the Washington Wizards. Now what did the Lakers get in return? Well they got absolutely nothing.
That seems like an odd deal in and of itself, but what the Lakers did get in return was cap space. Now even after this deal they didn’t have quite enough money to land that top tier free agent; so Davis being the generous person that he is waived his $4 million dollar trade kicker; so now the Lakers have $32 million dollars in salary cap space.
It’s quite a scam the NBA has going on with the Lakers just to make them good again, but with ratings being down they need to get them back into the playoffs and the only way to do that is to allow them to more or less do whatever they need to do to get the players they need around James. It’s just one more reason you can add to the why I no longer enjoy the NBA list.
Jumping back to Durant; did he do the Warriors a favor by opting into free agency? As we know he’ll miss all of next season and the Warriors are also dealing with Klay Thompson missing most of next season with a knee injury.
It appears as though Golden State will offer Thompson a “Max” deal to bring him back even with his injury. With Durant deciding to enter free agency this gives the Warriors some money on the books to not only re-sign Thompson, but find some help elsewhere this off season.
It might seem a little odd, but Durant becoming a free agent with the injury he has and the time he’s going to miss might have been a positive for the Warriors. I guess will have to see what Golden State does to fill out their roster.
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