Kevin Durant is the top prize in 2016 free agency next Summer, and a number of teams are expected to be after the one-time MVP Durant. While there are going to be more than 10 teams after Durant possibly, we’re going to try to narrow the list down to five teams with the most likely chance to land Durant come 2016. Here we go.
#5 Brooklyn Nets
Joe Johnson’s contract is off the books after the 2015-2016 season, and the Nets have been rumored to use the cap space that will come with the contract being gone to chase Durant.
Per the New York Daily News:
The impending Durant free agency bonanza should start picking up steam next season and will undoubtedly engulf the NBA in the summer of 2016. And make no mistake: the Nets are targeting Durant, the 25-year-old offensive juggernaut, even if it’s too early to predict their odds.
Durant would change the Nets franchise fortunes instantly becoming the teams new piece to build around. Is it the most unlikely of the next four teams I am going to list? I think so.
#4 Miami Heat
Pat Riley’s goal with the Heat is to build another superstar team like he did with LeBron James. The player that he is rumored to be chasing that can be the ‘LeBron James’ of the potential superstar team is Kevin Durant.
The Heat seems to want Wade to opt into his contract for next season at $16 million, then become a free agent and leave their and his future blank-check open. This will give the Heat the flexibility it craves to make a run at a player like Kevin Durant.
Pipe dream? Maybe.
But that’s what Wade himself once told the Heat about his great friend LeBron James being in Miami. Miami wants to have the flexibility that gets Riley in a room with Durant.
The Heat can have room for Wade, Bosh, Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside and Durant … but only if Wade opts in for this year and gives them that flexibility by being a free agent in 2016. This requires Wade to have a lot of trust, obviously, and the leap of faith that the team will take care of him in 2016
Does Durant want to come off like a guy that just copies what LeBron James did however? I think he’d much rather write his own legacy, but maybe that is just me and my opinion.
#3 Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks chase after almost every big name free agent each and every Summer. It appears that the story is still true, as the team believes they are ‘legitimate contenders’ for Durant’s services when the Summer of 2016 does indeed happen.
A byproduct of Dallas’s off-season haul: I’m told the Mavs now believe they are legitimate contenders in next summer’s Kevin Durant sweepstakes. Quite the turnaround in Big D.
While it may seemed far-fetched and wouldn’t make sense for the Mavericks to chase Durant with Chandler Parsons, we can never rule them out.
#2 Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers weakest rotation spot is the small forward role, and with the newly acquired Paul Pierce’s career winding down, Durant could be on the Clippers radar 2016, and it appears that he is in-fact on their radar.
Clippers will make a massive push for Kevin Durant next year. Mutual interest.
— Chris Palmer (@ChrisPalmerNBA) July 6, 2015
It would be great seeing Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and potentially DeAndre Jordan on the same team in Los Angeles, but then again, as the case with almost everything that includes free agents in the NBA, money is a factor, and there is no clue if Durant wants a maximum contract or not.
#1 Washington Wizards
Kevin Durant is from Washington D.C. where of course his hometown Washington Wizards play. Durant has also commented on playing for the Wizards before.
“I’ve never thought about it, to be honest,” Durant said of playing for the Washington Wizards. “I mean, I hear it in the summertime. I heard it for the first time this summer. That’s when it started heating up. I love playing for Oklahoma City, man. There’s just a certain level of pride that I have when I play with that Oklahoma City on my chest.
“So that’s the only thing I’m focused on. Everybody knows that I represent where I come from that no matter where I play at, no matter what arena. But I’m just focused on playing with Oklahoma City. It feels like home now. That’s where I am.”
While he does love playing for the Thunder and Oklahoma City, you know that players always think about the possibility of coming home.
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