Golden State Warriors to Sign Former MVP Kevin Durant
The Golden State Warriors have convinced free agent Kevin Durant to agree in principle to a two-year contract.
“I have decided that I am going to join the Golden State Warriors.”- Kevin Durant, The Players’ Tribune
While the Golden State Warriors may have lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals, DubNation has come out as the victors in NBA free agency with Kevin Durant announcing via The Players’ Tribune that he’s agreed in principle to a deal with the Bay Area basketball club.
With career averages of 27.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 1.2 steals on 48.3 percent shooting from the field and 38.0 percent shooting from behind the arc, Durant, 27, was the most sought-after name in free agency this year.
Since being drafted as the second overall pick in 2007 by the team formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics, the 6-foot-9-inch small forward has played his entire career up to this point with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although some may now end up seeing Durant as a villain of sorts due to his decision to leave his longtime team to form a “super team” within the same conference, it should really come to no surprise why Durant felt a change of scenery was necessary for his career moving froward.
A former seven-time NBA All-Star, five-time NBA First Team selection, four-time NBA scoring champion, one-time NBA All-Star MVP, and one-time NBA regular season MVP, Durant’s impressive resume is short just one thing: an NBA championship.
Durant has played a huge part in keeping OKC within playoff contention season after season, but the team has consistency fallen short each and every single time. The closest they came to winning a title was in the lockout-shortened 2012 season, which concluded with LeBron James winning his first title with the Miami Heat after beating the Thunder in the Finals 4-2.
Kevin Durant will sign a two-year deal with the Warriors at $54.3 million, league sources say, with a Player Option for Year 2
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 4, 2016
Now choosing to join guys like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, Durant sees an opportunity to create the most potent jump-shooting offense in NBA history. With NBA systems growing more and more fond of the outside shot, the idea of a small ball lineup with Durant at the 4 is the modern-day team’s pipe dream.
But even without guys like Curry and Thompson, Durant has proven himself to be a once-in-a-generation player, and, as a free agent, most certainly the type of player to command the attention of nearly every team in the league.
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Durant’s free agency attracted a long list of potential suitors, including but not limited to: the San Antonio Spurs, the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat, and the Los Angeles Clippers. Along with representatives from the Warriors and the Thunder, representatives of each of the four previously named teams met with Durant in some way or form over the course of this free agency period.
Many felt it likely that Durant re-sign with the Thunder due to a number of factors (ex. the amount of money to be had were he to stay in Oklahoma City, his image, the sentiment), but by choosing to go to the team with the best chance of earning him a ring, Durant proved this was ultimately a basketball decision.
Though Durant’s team was most recently knocked out of the playoffs by the Warriors after commanding a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals, it was unclear as to why some believed OKC’s most recent playoff loss would prove an obstacle in Durant’s reasoning to go to the Bay Area.
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If anything, the most significant obstacle keeping a Warriors-Durant union from happening is Golden State’s financial situation. As most are aware, attaining Durant as a free agent would result in the Warriors having to renounce the holds on all eight of their free agents — most notably Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli — and trade away either Andrew Bogut or Andre Iguodala.
But proven by GSW’s continued attempts to lure Durant away from OKC, Durant is most definitely worth the trouble — and then some.
And with the Warriors still hanging their heads after winning an NBA record 73 regular season games prior to failing to win an NBA title, hopefully Durant’s addition to the team will be seen as the first step on the road to redemption for this Hall of Shame squad.