That didn’t last long.
The internet had some fun with what Kendrick Perkins said about Kevin Durant’s impending free agency. Now a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Perkins spent parts of five seasons playing beside Durant with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Recently, he was asked about the 2013-14 MVP’s free-agency thought process, and his answer was cryptic, in a telltale sort of way, per ESPN.com’s Chris Forsberg:
Told that the Celtics likely will pursue Durant, Perkins replied, “Boston and everybody else, right?” Later he added, “As a friend, I try not to talk to him too much about free agency. I always try to just want to talk to him about things outside of basketball. We talk about personal life and stuff like that. And I know he’s getting this question every day on the hour and stuff like that, so I try not to bother him.
“But he did shoot some teams out there that he made me sign a confidentiality form that I couldn’t tell nobody. He’s got a few teams that he will be looking at.”
This sounded suspicious at first glance, and ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe was the first to throw some cold water on it:
To clarify, being told by league sources there is no on-paper confidentiality agreement b/w Perk and Durant.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) April 7, 2016
Soon after, Perkins himself followed suit, per The Oklahoman‘s Anthony V. Slater:
Kendrick Perkins on the confidentiality agreement comment regarding KD's free agency: "it was a joke"
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 8, 2016
It’s entirely possible Durant chitchatted with Perkins about free agency. But it’s unlikely he divulged anything of value, mostly because Durant himself probably has no idea what he’s going to do.
And if he did tell Perkins what he was thinking, a confidentiality agreement would just be bizarre. Like, there’s no way Perkins would be the only one he talks to. There would be other confidentiality agreements. Or something. And those would have hit the rumor mill long before now.
In the race to figure out what Durant will do this summer, we’re all tied. We are no closer to mining his brain, and right now, there is no way of gaining definitive insight. That will come this summer, after the playoffs, when we know how the Thunder’s season ended.
And it may not even come until Kevin Durant actually makes his decision.
