Durant Will Stay With Warriors, Knicks Lead Race For 2019 Move: Stein

Kevin Durant’s future with the Golden State Warriors is also up in the air with the small forward entering free agency yet again next summer. It remains unclear what his plans are for the future – whether he will stay in Oakland or look for pastures new.

The Warriors forward signed a short-term deal with his current employers when he entered free agency this summer and has confirmed that he will opt out of his deal and explore free agency.

Durant revealed recently his plan is to “stack money and play basketball” when he enters free agency and that points toward him remaining with the Warriors as they can offer him a max contract worth $221 million over five years. Any other interested franchise can only offer him $164 million over four years.

The 30-year-old has been heavily linked with a switch to the Los Angeles Lakers to join LeBron James, while the New York Knicks are also admirers of the forward. Durant is unlikely to join James after revealing recently that no top player will want to play with the three-time champ as they will have to play second fiddle.

New York Times’ Marc Stein believes Durant will re-sign with the Warriors for at least one more season before looking for a new challenge ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season. He believes the Knicks have a great chance of landing Durant, who has been at the top of their wish list for more than a year.

“I must confess that I’m not confidently shouting this proclamation into a megaphone,” Stein said, as quoted on 247 Sports. “Only Durant truly knows what he wants — and there is no shortage of signals in circulation to suggest that the Knicks have a real chance of convincing him to walk away from the Warriors in July.”

“Lots, though, can happen over the next six months. So I’m stubbornly clinging to my membership in the camp that believes that the Silicon Valley-loving Durant will ultimately be swayed to spend one season in the Warriors’ sparkly new Chase Center in San Francisco before moving onto his next challenge in July 2020,” he added.

Durant has played a key role in helping the Warriors back-to-back NBA championships and moreover, he was named the NBA Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018. Despite playing a key role in their title triumphs, the forward was continuously criticized for joining the Warriors just after they had beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder, whom he was playing for until 2016.

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson admitted that Durant’s move came as a shock, but understands why he made the switch from Thunder to the Warriors in 2016.

"At the end of the day, Kevin is my brother,” Thompson said, as quoted on Cavaliers Nation. “I remember sleeping on his couch when he was in college and I would come to visit, and he would look out for me and take care of me.”

“So at the end of the day, obviously I was shocked. But at the same time, I know what he wanted in it was to be in a position where he felt like he wanted to be a part of something special. And he saw what they had in Golden State and he wanted to win a championship. At the end of the day, he wanted that ring,” he added.