The San Antonio Spurs’ interest in signing Kevin Durant this summer is a thing.
Apparently a real thing.
We’ve thought about it. Read about it. Heard about it. Wondered whether it’s true. Talked ourselves out of it. Then back into it. Then out of it again.
Would the Spurs really swing for the fences in free agency for a second straight year, even though that’s very, very un-Spurs?
Yes, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
The stately Spurs, league sources say, are just as intrigued as Golden State by the thought of making a run at Durant come July 1.
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Yet OKC suddenly can’t get through a single playoff game without being confronted by a foe playing for more than the mere W. As our own Zach Lowe also warned you in this series set-up piece, when he wrote of the Spurs “quietly discussing what kind of cap gymnastics it would take to get into the Durant derby,” standard postseason pressure is only a fraction of the burden weighing on the Thunder, even after they managed to rebound from a Game 1 no-show in San Antonio by stealing Game 2 on the road.
The Spurs could actually end up being a bigger threat to sign Durant than the Golden State Warriors. They don’t have to jump through as many financial hoops; all they have to do is trade Danny Green and Boris Diaw, and have Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili opt out of the final year of their contracts.
In San Antonio, Durant would also get to play more of his natural-born offensive style. The Spurs, like the Warriors, aren’t ball-killing isolation specialists, but there would be more room for Durant to take detours when he isn’t competing for touches with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard need shots, too; but we know for a fact at least Leonard, plus possibly Aldridge, won’t care about how much he’s scoring, allowing Kevin Durant more opportunities to freelance as he sees fit.
This is all moot, of course, until July. And it could be rendered pointless even earlier, if the Oklahoma City Thunder are able to advance past the Spurs in the second round.
If they’re not, if the Spurs, as expected, make it through to the Western Conference Finals at Oklahoma City’s expense, then get ready for this rumor, this working theory, to gain even more traction.
