As the Oklahoma City Thunder continue their Western Conference climb, for the moment settled in the territory just behind the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs, their top priorities are split.
Of course they want to win a championship now. That’s been the goal for years. The core of Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook has been playing at a superstar level for more than a half-decade, and the Thunder’s inability to reach the NBA Finals more than once is unnerving giving how talented this nucleus is, even if many of the reasons why they haven’t been back to the championship round since 2012 were beyond their control.
But the Thunder are also focused on something equally, if not more important than one title run in one season: Durant’s free agency.
His impending offseason nuptials have been swept under the rug to start 2015-16, in part because the Warriors are so damn good, but also because Durant has declined to comment extensively on his summer plans at every turn. And yet, while he’s not talking about it, you better believe the Thunder are thinking about it.
According to ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst, you also better believe the Thunder are trying to learn from everything the Cleveland Cavaliers did wrong with LeBron James in 2010:
Nonetheless, James’ departure to the Miami Heat has become a significant part of how the Thunder are bracing themselves for Durant. The Thunder remember James’ speech. They remember every move the Cavaliers made or didn’t make as the days leading up to July 1, 2010, ticked away. And it has clearly shaped their strategy for Durant’s upcoming decision.
Oklahoma City’s plan of attack is twofold. It has put distance between itself and the decision to cut bait with James Harden and is now showing Durant money will spent when needed. The Thunder are slated to pay the luxury tax for the first time this season, and though it’s bittersweet knowing they dipped into that reserve fund to retain Enes Kanter, it’s nevertheless a convincing gesture of good faith.
And it leaks into the second part of their plan: show Durant that they can remain flexible enough in the years to come to do whatever it takes to win, something the Cavaliers were never able to prove.
As Windhorst wrote:
That’s the sales pitch to Durant that has been years in the making: The team is young, it’s spending money, it’s in a position to keep spending money because of past discipline, it won’t have to gut itself to make salary-cap space to sign him and it has gone out and hired a coach in Billy Donovan who Presti believes is one of the best minds in the game (in another of his multi-stage decisions).
Time will tell whether the Thunder’s approach is paying off, and there’s no use comparing one free-agency case six years ago to another.
But, as of now, with the way the Thunder are playing and the way they’ve positioned themselves for the future, it’s reasonable to assume they have a much better chance of re-signing Durant in 2016 than the Cavaliers ever did of keeping LeBron in 2010.
