Getty Images Kevin Durant taking the ball up.
The 2019 offseason is going to be one to remember, that’s for sure. Last year’s offseason, NBA fans got to experience another LeBron James storyline as ‘The King” searched for a new city to place his throne in. After this season, we will all get to experience another crazy offseason as Kevin Durant is likely to test out some new teams.
A couple of years ago, Durant decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and shook up the entire league. While Durant went from a face of the NBA to the heel of the game, it was clear that the superstar’s basketball decision worked out just fine as he picked up a couple of NBA Finals rings. Call it what you want, but Durant got exactly what he was looking for during that time. The only question now is what is he looking for next?
Will Kevin Durant continue to stay with the Golden State Warriors? Or is his short stint going to come to an end? With the way that this season has gone, many would assume that Durant is probably as good as gone after what happened between Durant, and his teammate Draymond Green. While Green was going off on Durant for an altercation that started with a poor decision on the court, the Warriors big man switched gears and snapped on KD over the next free agency move that he hasn’t even made yet.
Green Believes That Durant Was as Good as Gone
According to multiple sources, Green then went on to make it clear he’s been making plays for years. He reminded Durant the Warriors were winning before Durant showed up so he wouldn’t stand for Durant talking to him as if he were a scrub. Green accused Durant of making the whole season about him even though he was going to leave after this season. Green let out his frustrations about how Durant has handled free agency — keeping his options open and keeping the story alive, consuming the Warriors and their season with talk of what Durant will do next.
According to USA Today’s For The Win, Green wouldn’t hold back while speaking to Durant a few weeks back. Apparently, Draymond Green has been reading too far into the theories and stories as to why Durant could or should leave Golden State. Although many believed that Durant was as good as gone before, many definitely think that the former league MVP will pack up and run his own team somewhere else after the brutally honest comments by Draymond.
However, there are many “experts” who have come to believe that Durant will, in fact, stay with the Warriors despite all of the talks about him potentially leaving. Recently, ESPN ran a poll with an experts panel where the analysts voted where they believe Durant would land next. Knowing that he could pretty much sign a massive deal with any team that has the funds, there were plenty of votes for many destinations. But the first-place votes revealed that not a lot of people believe that Durant is ready to close the book on Golden State
Who Received Votes?
With 17 first-place votes, the Golden State Warriors became the favorites to retain Kevin Durant in the offseason. Although the New York Knicks came in second, they were a solid seven votes back from the Warriors. Some other teams that have picked up some first-place votes were the Los Angeles Lakers (19.1-percent) and the Los Angeles Clippers (8.5-percent).
It wouldn’t be too far-fetched for Durant to stay in Golden State, even after all of the controversy with his teammate. There’s no possible way that the Warriors let the superstar walk without attempting to leave a convincing message to make Durant believe that he belongs in Golden State anyway.
Not to mention, the Warriors could make a deal that ships Draymond Green off elsewhere depending on which player they value most. And seeing as though Durant has been doing an excellent job leading the Warriors as of late, he may be more valuable to the franchise over Green at this point anyway. We’ll see what happens when the time finally comes, though.