The Oklahoma City Thunder lost the biggest free agency prize of the summer in Kevin Durant last July. But they were apparently close to signing the next-best thing.
With the Boston Celtics facing off against the Thunder on Sunday, Al Horford decided to reveal some new information. The newly-signed Celtics center proclaimed that he was close to signing with OKC.
Following via Chris Forsberg of ESPN:
Al Horford said he considered the Oklahoma City Thunder during free agency this summer in part because of coach Billy Donovan, who coached Horford at Florida. “I didn’t say this to anybody, but I was strongly considering [OKC] and just the possibilities of playing under coach again. Those were realistic things, but at the end of the day I made my decision to be here with Boston.”
We already knew that Horford had considered the Thunder but this new quote makes it seem as though he was much closer to joining them than previously thought.
There are two scenarios here. Horford joins the Thunder before Durant makes his decision. KD sees the opportunity for a true big three and stays in Oklahoma City. However, Horford’s decision to join the Celtics didn’t exactly sway Durant.
The more likely scenario would have been Durant still leaving for Golden State. But the Thunder would have been much better prepared to go into the post-Durant world with Al Horford joining Russell Westbrook.
That’s all speculation, now though. And with the Thunder getting a big win over the Celtics, I’m not sure their fans are reminiscing about the possibility, right now.
