If Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder don’t win a title this season with their main players healthy, then it might be time for him to change teams. The Golden State Warriors, in particular, should be attractive to Durant in free agency, and he should strongly consider joining the (for now) defending champions.
This is because they are a team built around shooting, and adding another superstar sniper would only make them more dangerous. If the Thunder end up winning the championship this summer, then this argument will be moot. But that doesn’t seem likely at this moment. The Warriors and San Antonio Spurs have both been excellent in the early season, and head coach Gregg Popovich hasn’t even fully integrated LaMarcus Aldridge yet.
And let’s not forget LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. They’ll easily get through the Eastern Conference in the playoffs, and it will basically be another showdown between them and whoever comes out of the West.
Durant and Russell Westbrook are a formidable two-man punch, but they are sometimes an awkward fit when it comes to who will take over in the fourth quarter. Stephen Curry would be even more impossible to guard with Durant on the wing, and putting so many shooters on one team would be a fascinating experiment.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote recently about the possibility of Durant joining Golden State, and the writer made a very compelling point about how the Thunder have failed in the playoffs because of the risk involved in only having three stars.
“And that, in the end, may be the most persuasive argument for Golden State going after Durant: Adding a fourth star is a hedge against an injury to one of the other three,” Lowe wrote. “If any of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Durant get hurt in May or June, the Warriors could still have a fighting chance. In the postseason hothouse of shorter rotations, that extra dose of star power might be a better cushion against bad luck than a deep bench.”
To sign Durant, the Warriors would have to give up Harrison Barnes and either Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Andrew Bogut or Festus Ezeli to clear cap space.
The Warriors recently became the quickest team ever to 50 wins, and they could be having the best regular season in NBA history if the victories keep piling up for them.
But here is the main reason why they should make a move for Durant this summer. They would have to pay Barnes almost exactly the same amount of money if the team decided to keep him, and only a crazy person would pick Harrison over Kevin.
Durant is still 27, and he would keep the Warriors youthful, while also opening their championship window a little bit wider. This is a no-brainer if the superstar wants to win a title.
