When the New York Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis, the best asset they've had in that franchise in almost three decades, simply to clear salary space, people started connecting dots. No way the Knicks would trade Porzingis if they didn't have it on good authority that Kevin Durant was coming to New York. Pretty soon, it just sort of became accepted that Durant signing with the Knicks was a done deal.
Perhaps not so much.
According to Mark Stein of The New York Times, as plugged in a reporter as the NBA has, the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as an equal threat to sign Durant away from the Warriors this summer. From Stein:
As for the bigger-picture matter of Durant's future: I am unafraid to announce, with no trace of hot-takery, that firm predictions about what Durant will do when free agency starts in 40 days are ill-advised.
Within the last month, very smart and plugged-in people I have consulted say that the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as an equally dangerous threat to the Knicks to sign Durant away from Golden State. And I believe it.
Problem is, at various points during the season, I have heard trusted insiders state with conviction that Durant is already planning to join the Knicks ... and then that he is likely to consider the Nets as well ... and now that he is eyeing the Clippers just as intently as New York.
It leads one to conclude that maybe the best forecast, at least for the moment, is that nobody but Durant and his business manager Rich Kleiman know.
Speaking of Kleiman, Durant's business manager went on a Wall Street Journal panel on Tuesday and said Durant was "100 percent undecided" about his future and is focusing on winning a third straight championship with the Warriors. This is the right thing to say, of course. But it does align with what Stein is saying, that any reports definitely linking Durant to any one team are premature. That includes the Knicks, who appear to have company with the Clippers in their chase for perhaps the best player in the world.
