Kevin Durant is going to be a free agent this summer.
Did you know that? If you didn’t, that’s okay. It’s not like people are talking about it for hours and words on end or anything.
Except that’s absolutely what they’re doing.
Kevin Durant hasn’t been asked a ton of direct free-agency questions this season. Well that, or he at least hasn’t responded to too many. And that’s left the world at large to read entirely too much into everything he says, even if it’s not remotely related to his impending free-agent nuptials.
The latest update (non-update?) falls somewhere in between. He has been asked about a bunch of cities and his thoughts on them as a means of indirectly polling him about free agency. But not enough coverage has been granted to the city he’s been a part of for close to decade.
That changed over the weekend, per ESPN.com’s Royce Young:
One of which being: You get asked about all these other cities, but what about this one?
“It’s home,” he said. “It’s home.”
Like any other answer he’s given over the last few months, that’s no more a breadcrumb leading to answering what he’s going to do come July 1, but it is a reaffirmation of Durant’s affection for the place he’s called home the last seven years.
“I’ve always felt that this place meant so much to me,” he said. “It has a special place in my heart and my family’s heart as well. And we want to do our justice by giving back and giving to the less fortunate. That’s how I was raised, that’s how my mom taught me, how my grandmother taught me, is to give back. I’ve been blessed with so much I want to be a blessing on someone else.”
There’s a chance Durant’s feelings for the Oklahoma City won’t impact his free-agent decision all that much. He can remain a part of the community even after he leaves. LeBron James did something similar when he left Cleveland for Miami, and while he was considered a hometown kid, Durant has spent enough time in Oklahoma City that his ties extend well beyond basketball.
Could Kevin Durant’s affinity for Oklahoma City keep him in a Thunder uniform? Of course. But his decision will likely be mostly about basketball, specifically about whether he thinks the Thunder’s core is good enough or, more importantly, sustainable. Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka are both slated for free agency in 2017, and if the Thunder still haven’t won a title by then, one or both could opt to leave. That’s something Durant has to think about, and it could prompt him to embrace a balancing act, wherein he signs a one-plus-one deal to stay in Oklahoma City with the option of becoming a free agent next summer, when the salary cap explodes and he and his Thunder peers can make decisions about their futures together.
