Kevin Durant keeps throwing fuel on his free agency fire
Kevin Durant on the report of a Finals or he's leaving ultimatum: "Everyone make up rumors this time of year" pic.twitter.com/hRi14Mbl8o
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 8, 2016
The Kevin Durant free agency rumors are becoming more frequent by the day.
He's going to sign a one-year deal with the Thunder. He's going to leave OKC and join the Warriors. He's going to sign with the Wizards. He's going to leave the Thunder if they don't make the NBA Finals.
It's not surprising that the conversation about what the 2014 NBA MVP will do next is shifting into fifth gear as the season winds down. It is surprising that Durant continues to act so incredulous when he's asked about it.
Tuesday, the Thunder superstar shot down a report by Pelicans broadcaster Joel Meyers that claimed Durant was going to leave Oklahoma City should the team not make the NBA Finals. It's a giant net of a prediction, and Meyers isn't exactly a go-to source for NBA insider information.
Durant, when asked about the latest report, scoffed and said: "If it didn't come from me or anyone I know, like I said so many times -- I don't know where it [came] from. Everybody makes up rumors around this time of year."
If this was the first time Durant has used that line, this wouldn't be a story. But that's been Durant's go-to response to questions about free agency rumors this season, and when he uses it to shoot down not one, but two Adrian Wojnarowski reports linking him to the Warriors, the line takes on the inverse effect of what he's seeking.
Durant is adamant that his free agency is "wide open" and there's no reason not to believe that's the case. He hasn't held meetings with teams and no one has a solid idea of Oklahoma City's plan moving forward is.
But free agency is not a one-sided equation -- teams need to be interested in the player as well. Every team in the NBA would be interested in having Durant, but not everyone could take his max contract. It's a mimited market, so teams that can take that money on are wise to make it clear early that they're interested in the forward, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to leak their interest to well-placed media members. It's third-party recruiting and it jump-starts the free agency process.
Durant has every right to scoff at the speculation of what he'll do next. He's right, many of these rumors are probably made up -- but some of them are not baseless, they're coming from solid NBA sources.
No one knows what Durant plans on doing -- even Durant -- but when he treats every rumor with equal contempt, all while not saying anything to counteract the speculation, he only increases the conjecture about his side of the equation. He only throws fuel on the already raging fire.
