An early season slump followed by a mid-game feud with teammates back in November allowed for rumors to swirl about the future of Kevin Durant.
Was this the beginning of the end of a three-year era for KD in Oakland or was it just white noise for analysts to discuss over coffee in the morning? For many, it appeared to be a legitimate debate, but for some it was just a small hurdle for the two-time reigning Finals MVP to get over.
The way I saw it (and see it currently) was a team in the middle of a slump trying to figure out what the hell was going on. How could the W’s currently be taking L’s to teams far inferior than them, and by double digits for that matter?
It all stems from the original roster from pre-KD. The team that won an NBA record 73 games in 2016 and fell one win shy of claiming back-to-back titles after blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team that had Stephen Curry become the first unanimous MVP, and the team that won the Bay its first championship in over 40 years.
Here is where things get dicey when it comes to the 2019 state of the team.
Draymond Green was pivotal in both runs leading to the Finals and was somewhat of the mastermind behind convincing KD to sign with Golden State. His phone call in the parking lot after the Game 7 loss in which he begged OKC’s soon-to-be free-agent to join the historic Warriors was just the beginning. It was the trip to the Hampton’s where the other starters lured Durant to the team and shocked the NBA world for the next three seasons.
With or without Durant on the Warriors, Green has always been scrutinized for his behavior on the court. Accumulating technical after technical, and flirting with suspensions throughout the playoffs and the regular season has overshadowed just how important he is to this team. Before 2017, nobody other than Steve Kerr attempted to mitigate his anger issues. Now, well let’s just say Durant wasn’t shy about stepping out of his own lane.
When a ship is on the straight and narrow out at sea nobody tends to panic. But when a strong wind rips through the mainsail, then everybody aboard must help man the sail. For the first two seasons with Durant the Warriors were smooth sailing, dominating the league and resting stars via the new “load management” tactic. When things got tough (which was rare) they stayed afloat and found ways to win. But in 2018-19, the team started slow and Green began calling out KD and vice-versa. That’s when the losses started to pile up, arguments in the huddle started, and also when Kerr let the players come up with their own plays. Things just weren’t the same.
Golden State had injuries to both Curry and Durant in the regular season, but it seemed like this year was different than the two prior. The deep June runs had finally caught up to this unit and a “calf” injury to KD in the second round kept him sidelined for what SHOULD have been the remainder of the playoffs.
With that being said, what happened after KD didn’t suit up and what always seemed to happen after he didn’t dress, was Warriors success. The same core 4 from the pre-KD era swept the Blazers in the conference Finals after beating the Rockets the series prior. Analysts started chiming in saying that the dubs never needed Durant and he was just the icing on the cake to secure repeated championships.
Whether that was accurate or not, the Warriors limped into the Finals and saw both KD (torn achilles) and Klay Thompson (ACL tear) suffer brutal injuries that could sideline them for the 2019-20 season.
Today, we are just four days from free-agency and thousands of reports and rumors have been plaguing Twitter. Is he gone for good? Will there be a new super team out East? Are the Knicks out of the running? The list goes on and on, but these are legitimate questions across the league.
As many expected he would do, Durant declined his $31.5 million player option, thus opening the door for him to pursue a new franchise. Just think about that for a second. A 30-year-old, 6 ft 9 in forward, coming off a torn achilles has just turned down $31.5 million. That tells you just how dominate this star is and also tells you that he either has a new massive deal awaiting by the Warriors (doubtful) or he will be taking his talents elsewhere.
I will take the latter rather than the former, although neither decision would shock me (nothing in the NBA really shocks me anymore).
Brooklyn appears to have a leg up on the competition as far as max contract situations go, while the Kyrie Irving to the Nets rumors are at an all time high. Since January, these two have been linked together for next fall. The public has already painted this picture that the two will team up, but where that is remains to be seen.
Personally, I think it makes no sense for Irving to sign in Brooklyn. He had arguably a similar situation in Boston with younger talent and proved that he cannot win on his own, yet he has expressed that he has matured and does in fact want to win again. The Durant injury forces me to say that the Nets are most certainly not a good fit for the former number one overall draft pick.
If the thought process is to win in two years then that’s fine. Nobody should knock you for that based on how KD’s achilles blew up a week ago. But that is IF, and only IF, Durant agrees to join you, wherever that might be. If you are going to take that risk, then why not do it with the Knicks where the lights are the brightest and where MSG is always sold out?
I will admit that I did think Durant would leave, but I thought he would sign south of the Bay in LA. For the Clippers that is, not for the Lakers. He could stay in California and compete with LeBron James for the keys to the city, but this time he could do it by his personally formed team and on his terms. He wouldn’t need a super team or a team loaded with all-stars, and he would have a Larry O’Brien winning head coach in Doc Rivers along with another max contract slot for assurance. To me that sounds like an unbelievable opportunity to elevate himself among all-time greats.
Now, all bets are off. The achilles injury could and might possibly alter the free-agent pool before it even gets going. When he returns healthy he will be 31 and coming off a major injury that is difficult to come back from. Are players likely to join him and wait a year or will the top free-agents change plans for their own future endeavors?
The play that now makes the most sense would be for KD to sign in New York. Sign with the championship deprived Knicks who will take you in with open arms and where you will have the highest selling jersey in a year that you don’t even play in. We all know how he has “ties” to Manhattan and owns an apartment somewhere in TriBeca. We all know that he LOVES social media and would do anything for the snake nickname to be erased. And we all know that he wants to be the main guy. New York is his best bet at doing just that.
Durant is already in the conversation with LeBron for the best NBA player in the world today, but his injury will force him out of that debate…for now. The only way for him to actually attempt to leapfrog the King would be to take another franchise to the Finals, just as James is attempting to do in LA.
If the former Texas Longhorn can take the Knicks to the Finals, and win for that matter, then he will quiet every hater who once continuously called him out and force everybody to forget that he even signed with a 73-win franchise in 2016.
KD has the opportunity to free himself from Steph’s shadow and become his own superhero with New York, and by doing so he can denounce his status as the league’s biggest villain altogether.
The Knicks have both the cap space and the environment to lure multiple stars. The question now becomes–will it be enough?