Kevin Durant To Knicks: Warriors Players Joked About New York Billboard

Klay Thompson revealed Golden State Warriors players joked around with Kevin Durant after seeing the New York billboard recruiting him to join the Knicks.

Durant's future remains one of the hottest topics of the 2018/19 NBA season as he could become an unrestricted free agent next summer and join another team.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks are the two teams that seem to be the most likely destinations, and late last month, marketing company NYCADSCO put up a billboard just outside Madison Square Garden recruiting him to the Big Apple.

The billboard featured Durant as a cartoon in a Knicks jersey along with Kristaps Porzingis and the caption, "Can you make NY sports great again?"

Durant would even respond to the billboard the same day it was unveiled as he was not particularly impressed by it.

"It's the time the NBA is in," Durant said at the time. "We look forward to free agency as fans, and your guys' job is to kind of look towards the future a little bit. And the fans love it. So I understand. To be honest, I don't know how I feel about that type of stuff. ... It's cool. No disrespect, but I'm not really impressed with that type of stuff. I just really like playing basketball. ... I know all of that stuff is a part of it, but for me I don't really get up for that stuff."

Durant and the rest of the Warriors would then defeat the Knicks in a 128-100 victory a day later as Thompson recently revealed the team poked fun at the situation at the time.

“We’re not that sensitive of a team and we’ve got to keep it light,” Thompson told the Los Angeles Times. “You’ve got to be able to joke with each other. You can’t be serious all the time.”

Durant has long-maintained he will focus on his future when the season is over, and despite the constant rumors and speculation surrounding his next destination, he claims it's not been that much of a big deal.

“For the majority of the time, it’s not really a thing. It’s just the New Yorks, the L.A.s where people ask me about it,” Durant added. “I think it’s just been letting everyone know that I’m going to wait until the summertime to even talk about stuff or think about stuff like that. ... It’s not important right now. I’m trying to be the best basketball player I can, trying to help this team win. I can’t let anything distract me from that.”

Of course, the rumors will only continue and the Knicks do seem to be a real possibility for the 30-year-old.

Durant, who has over 10 years of experience, can be offered $38.15 million for the first year of a potential max contract next summer, though New York projects to only have $32 million for next season following their waiving of Joakim Noah's contract last month.

The salary owed to their 2019 first-round pick or potential free agent Enes Kanter is not factored into that figure either, so the Knicks will have to shed some salary cap space which may involve trading one of Tim Hardaway Jr. or Courtney Lee. They will be earning $18,150,000 and $12,759,670 respectively next season.