Well, this didn’t take long.
Minutes removed from the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Game 7 loss in the Western Conference Finals to the Golden State Warriors, as well as Kevin Durant’s steadfast insistence that he has no idea what he will do in free agency this summer, the race for his services unofficially began.
Durant won’t technically be a free agent until July 31, but recruitment from other players is already underway—quite publicly, we might add.
Here’s the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid:
Time to RECRUIT KD to the Sixers??????
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 31, 2016
To Embiid’s credit, the Sixers can have a ton of cap space. If they want, they can open two max contract slots and sell Durant on the possibility of picking another superstar to join him in Philly. And even after those signings, they would have enough picks and prospects to go third-star-hunting on the trade market.
But it’s beyond unlikely that Durant considers the Sixers. If they even get a meeting with him, they should consider that an accomplishment. They have been the league’s foremost laughingstock for three years, and even if he could bring another star (or two) with him, there’s too much uncertainty hovering around their future.
The same cannot be said for the Boston Celtics, the NBA’s most promising upstart team, led by Isaiah Thomas, who also threw his hat into Durant’s ring, albeit with more subtly than Embiid:
Thomas would delete that tweet soon after, but the sentiment stands.
The Celtics can carve out at least one max contract slot, and they, too, have the picks and prospects to deal for another star.
Imagine, for a second, that they could pitch Durant on a core that included Jae Crowder or Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, Thomas and…Jimmy Butler. It’s become clear that Butler isn’t untouchable in Chicago, and the Celtics could pitch the Bulls on a monster package built around one of Bradley or Crowder, a point guard prospect like Terry Rozier, a stretchy 4/5 in Jonas Jerebko, salary fodder in Amir Johnson (if needed) and a ton of first round picks, one or two of which would come courtesy of the Brooklyn Nets.
Now that’s the way to pipe dream.
But we digress.
If Durant is actually considering leaving the Thunder this summer, the Celtics, along with the San Antonio Spurs and Warriors, should be on his short list of potential destinations.
As for the Sixers, well, Embiid’s Twitter game is strong. He should keep it up. One day, perhaps sometime soon, he might be repping a decent basketball team with a puncher’s hope of poaching a free agent like Durant.
