Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant Could Stay in Bay for This Big Reason

Getty Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors shoots against the Houston Rockets during Game One of the Second Round of the 2019 NBA Western Conference Playoffs.

Where will Kevin Durant land during NBA free agency?

Many have an answer.

But peep this: some say he could stay in the Bay.

According to Bookmaker.eu, the current odds of Durant remaining with the Golden State Warriors this season are: -110 (10/11), followed by the New York Knicks: +140 (7/5) and Los Angles Clippers: +1100 (11/1)

Just this week, Anthony Puccio, a rising NYC-based reporter with bi-lines at SNY, New York Daily News and Nets Daily wrote based off his insider information that the Brooklyn Nets “has a shot” with Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and/or Tobias Harris during this summer’s free agency.

In his article via SNY: Puccio notes that general manager Sean Marks has the confidence and ability to lure “top-tier free agents.”

Next year, the Nets project to have $54 million in cap space. Part of that calculus (per Spotrac) doesn’t include Russell’s renewed contract, which will be significantly higher than his $7 million a year last season. His deal could reach as high as $20 million next year per our own Eduardo Solano.

Puccio states that Durant may want to join, friend Caris LeVert in Brooklyn.

The Los Angeles Lakers are also of interest for Durant, as I reported last summer.

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The Lakers purposely filled their roster with one-year contracts to maintain their salary cap flexibility for the summer of 2019 where several NBA superstars like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, DeMarcus Cousins, and DeAndre Jordan are expected to become unrestricted free agents.

Golden State Warriors All Star, Kevin Durant is still a very high priority for the Los Angeles Lakers this summer.

Durant signed a two-year, $61.5 million contract with the Warriors and has the option to opt out ahead of the 2019-20 season, per Spotrac.

If Durant were to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers next offseason, it would leave them with a minimum of two years to play together.

The New York Knicks are also believed to be high on Durant’s list according to NBA insider, Ric Bucher.

“I would expect that he goes to New York for a variety of reasons,” Bucher told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

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“His business manager is from New York and is a huge Knicks fan. The idea that he would love to work for the Knicks and have some role in that, if that could be a consideration, I think all of that has some legitimacy to it. And so, I look at all of that, I look at what the business aspirations are and what New York could afford. And the fact that his business manager, that’s where he’s from and he knows the landscape and that if he goes to, I mean just imagine, he’s been a two-time NBA Finals MVP, he’s won a couple of rings and yet, he will never, ever, ever, ever be embraced the way Steph Curry is, or quite honestly, the way Klay Thompson is, or even Draymond Green. No matter what KD does as a player, he will not find the same place at the core of the heart of Warriors fans because he didn’t come up through the tough times there. And for some, they love having him there, but he ain’t their guy cause he’s not an original, and KD, I’m sure, understands that. So imagine, he’s got his ring, he goes to New York, if he takes the Knicks, if he gets the Knicks to the Finals, just one, he will be beloved in New York like Patrick Ewing, because Knicks fans are so hungry for a guy who’s capable of doing.”

 

FS1’s Jason McIntyre echoed that earlier this year. “The Knicks are quietly, I believe, becoming attractive,” McIntyre told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

“Look at this: okay, you’ll hold out Porzingis for the rest of the season, so he just sits out injured, he comes back healthy. They’re tanking aggressively. They’re looking right now at one of the three worst teams in the league. They win the lottery, you’re looking at a healthy Porzingis, maybe Zion Williamson, Tim Hardaway’s had a pretty nice year, Kevin Knox looks like a promising rookie. Does Kevin Durant want to come in and lead that group?”