Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant heads to free agency this summer and won’t join his hometown Washington Wizards.
The globe learned this much Thursday when Chris Mannix of The Vertical revealed that the hometown pressure of family and friends wouldn’t work for Durant, should he choose to leave the Thunder.
The entire nugget says quite a lot about Durant:
Durant isn’t bound for Washington, friends say, because … it’s Washington, it’s home, and, like so many athletes, Durant isn’t all that keen on returning to play in the city in which he grew up. Friends, family – some real, some claiming to be – all come out of the woodwork in those situations, and Durant, who has tightened his inner circle considerably in recent years, isn’t interested in dealing with them. His lone trip to D.C. this season was stressful, league sources told The Vertical, reinforcing to friends that wherever Durant signs next summer, Washington won’t be it.
Hidden in the depths of this report, though, is a notable contender for Durant’s services—the Boston Celtics.
Seriously, look at the graph including the Celtics, which gets headlined by the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs:
The Summer of Durant will be wild, with Durant eager to be courted, to see how other teams operate. Golden State will be in the mix, San Antonio too, while Boston lurks as a dark horse, the Eastern Conference alternative if Durant chooses to extract himself from the bruising Western Conference playoffs.
Boston is the best landing spot for Durant, folks.i
The Warriors and Spurs are good enough as is. Heck, the Western Conference is stacked enough right now. As fun as watching Durant play with Stephen Curry or finding a way to mesh with Kawhi Leonard would be, hasn’t the globe seen enough of these silly “superteams” that ruin parity?
Slap Durant in Boston. Both Golden State and San Antonio still remain powerhouses. Russell Westbrook still fuels the Thunder for at least one more season. Meanwhile, Durant takes Danny Ainge’s perfect rebuild to new heights and squares off with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. What’s not to like?
Remember, too, buzz has already suggested Durant will hear nothing but good things about the Celtics, as captured by CSNNE.com:
. @Scalabrine: ‘Guaranteeing’ Kendrick Perkins said good things about #Celtics to Kevin Durant https://t.co/D9lNACMZLa
— CSNNE.com (@CSNNE) April 7, 2016
Look, Durant is even the perfect character fit—the quiet superstar joining a team culture that best suits his personality. How fitting would it be to see what should have been a wild build to free agency (it has been anything but) end quietly with Durant putting ink to the darkhorse, and one that best fits his demeanor?
Durant to the Celtics is best for the new parity-plagued Association. Fingers crossed.