There are a few NBA teams that have been linked to Golden State Warriors forward and potential 2019 unrestricted free agent Kevin Durant, including the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers. While many believe that it’s a possibility Durant will want to team with LeBron James and give the Lakers a second superstar forward for the 2019-20 season, others, most recently including Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, believe it’s more likely that he’ll end up with the Knicks and help the team return to relevance after years of difficulty making the playoffs.
As noted by NESN , Haynes appeared on Wednesday’s episode of Fox Sports 1’s Undisputed , where he talked about Durant’s prospects in the 2019 offseason and the myriad rumors that have been surrounding him even before the start of the 2018-19 regular season. These rumors have mostly pointed to the chances of Durant opting out of the final year of his Warriors contract and joining the Lakers or the Knicks next summer.
After mentioning that it had been quite a while since the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks were “relevant” forces in the NBA, Haynes gave his justification for why he believes Kevin Durant will end up with the Knicks in 2019 free agency — the fact that his business partner, Rich Kleiman, is based in New York, and the possibility that Durant is similarly fascinated with the Knicks and the team’s culture like LeBron James was with the Lakers.
“The New York Knicks have a very good shot at luring KD away from the Bay Area,” said Haynes.
“The same allure that LeBron had towards the Los Angeles Lakers, just the building, the culture, is the same way I know that KD feels about the Knicks.”
The Knicks reportedly have a “very good shot” at luring Kevin Durant away from the Warriors https://t.co/hNQDkxtTxV pic.twitter.com/UPcBlIDqwU
— SNY (@SNYtv) October 3, 2018
While the Knicks have high hopes for rookie forward Kevin Knox, who was picked ninth overall in this year’s NBA Draft, and are also hoping that forward/center Kristaps Porzi??is returns to form after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in February, NESN opined that there aren’t too many other players on the Knicks roster to get excited about. However, Haynes’ comments are just the most recent to suggest that Kevin Durant might be joining the New York Knicks next season, especially considering how Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving, and Kawhi Leonard are also expected to be part of next year’s batch of free agents.
In July, ESPN’s Zach Lowe also predicted that the New York Knicks might try to make a serious push for Kevin Durant and that the 30-year-old former MVP and scoring champion will one day want to leave the Golden State Warriors “for a team that can truly be his.” Likewise, Bleacher Report further quoted Lowe as saying that Durant is still close to New York Knicks general manager Scott Perry, who was working for the Seattle SuperSonics (later the Oklahoma City Thunder) when they chose him with the second pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.
