The NBA’s free agency got off to a flying start, with massive extensions for Nikola Jokic, Ja Morant, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zion Williamson, Devin Booker, Darius Garland and Bradley Beal, plus a few big moves – Jalen Brunson is now a kink and John Wall is now a clipper.
But free agency as a whole appears to be waiting for a Kevin Durant, current Brooklyn Nets and former Golden State Warriors, all forwards who are expected to be the crown jewel of the NBA’s free agency crown in 2022.
According to ESPN’s Marc Spears, the Warriors are among the teams interested in Durant. But as Spears rightly notes, “More than half of the league does too. It’s KEVIN DURANT. You better call if you’re an NBA GM. It’s KEVIN DURANT.”
Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer stated less than a week ago that the interest was unrequited.
“The only team that NBA sources with knowledge of the situation have indicated is not a viable option for Durant is Golden State,” Fischer said. “And the Warriors probably don’t have a package of win-now parts that would pique Brooklyn’s interest.”
The dubs’ lack of “win-now bits” is debatable, but Durant’s lack of interest in Golden State probably isn’t — if you recall, his final year with Golden State alone included a slip with Draymond Green, anger at how that kill was handled, and scathing questions about the team’s handling of his calf injury.
Green and Durant have been in touch both on Twitter and on various podcasts over the past month and a half.
But Spears’ tweet nonetheless restarted the media cycle from Durant back to the Golden State, and former NBA player and current NBA TV analyst Dennis Scott put it in the really stupidest place on Sunday night.
“It’s easy when I’m the Warriors,” Scott said during a late night segment of Free Agent Fever. “Draymond, call KD. Very easily. ‘Hey KD, we know what happened. We had the podcast, we ironed it out, we talked about going ahead and win two more championships? Want a chance to get even more MVPs?’ Steph got his MVP now because the naysayers, Steph had to get his MVP. He has it now. But when you talk about winning four of the next five, all that stuff that’s going on on social media, he gives you a great opportunity to do that.”
Yes, there’s plenty of airtime to fill before the 2022-23 NBA season ends in mid-October, but only sixteen days until the Warriors win an NBA title without Kevin Durant — something several ESPN media pundits thought was impossible — against one of the “greatest defenses in NBA history” we’re kind of right back where we started.