Kevin Durant will be the marquee NBA free agent next summer, and multiple rumors continue to surface regarding teams that may pursue him and teams he may have interest in signing with.
But the most interesting rumor may have surfaced on Tuesday, with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reporting the Golden State Warriors have emerged as “significant frontrunners” to sign Durant if he decides to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder during the offseason.
The issue for Golden State would be creating the ample salary cap space it would take to sign Durant, who would command $25 million per year on a max contract. Trading a couple prominent pieces, with Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut having been mentioned, and the rescinding of a qualifying offer to Harrison Barnes would be bare minimum requirements for Golden State to fit Durant into their financial picture comfortably.
A ridiculously talented core four of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Durant would surely be enticing, though it’s still far from a guarantee that Durant even wants to leave Oklahoma City. But the Warriors absolutely should still pursue Durant, with Green reportedly willing to head up recruiting efforts, in order to build a Western Conference (and NBA-wide) super power for many more years to come.
