There has been a lot of speculation over Oklahoma City player Kevin Durant’s future destination.
Both Durant’s interest in going to the Warriors after this season ends and the Warriors’s fight to get Durant this offseason make this a heavily discussed question. Durant’s contract is up at the end of the season which means he will become an unrestricted free agent. Many teams are eager to get their hands on Durant, including the best basketball team in the world, the Golden State Warriors. You might ask, why would the Warriors try and get Durant this summer, when they already have a loaded team whose record is 64-7?
The first problem is the financial question of who the Warriors would have to give up compared to Durant. The players the Warriors would have to let go include Harrison Barns, who has a 5 million dollar acquiring contract, and Andrew Bogut, who would clear up 11 million in cap space (the amount of money each team can spend on players). In total, this would add up and clear about 16 million in cap space.
Once caps increase next year, these two players signed to the Warriors would bring the total to 81 million. With that number, one more player would have to be let go. Maybe that Warriors player is Andre Iguodala, who has 11 million dollars on his contract and is staring to get injuries left and right. Letting all these players go would mean that the Warriors would have about 27 million to spend on getting Durant.
The next reason why the Dubs might want Durant is the age comparison of these players above. Durant is 27 and about to enter the prime of his playing career. At 23, Harrison Barns will be entering his prime in the next couple of years. Bogut, one of the other players they would have to give up, is 31 and not looking like he’s getting any younger. Iguodala, 32, is also getting pretty old. So in conclusion, would you take Durant in his prime versus two aging role-players? I say yes.
But at the same time, why would the Warriors mess with arguably one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport? The Warriors have a great chance of making history with getting 73 wins in a regular season, which would surpass the record-setting Chicago Bulls who won 72 games in the 1995-1996 regular season. This is a Warriors team that is tearing up the whole league and looking more like a team who might win championship after championship.The Warriors lead by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, are creating a dynasty right in front of our eyes and that could arguably be one of the best in history. You don’t mess with a dynasty, ever.
But every dynasty sometimes needs a new person to spice up the the team and Durant might be that guy. So what would you do if you were Peter Guber and Joe Lacob, owners of the Warriors, or Bob Myers, general manager of the Warriors? Would you get or forget Durant?
