Kevin Durant says that he hasn’t yet begun to think about free agency. However, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Durant is expected to stay with the Oklahoma City for another season:
As covered in this cyberspace in May, when we detailed the San Antonio Spurs’ plan to make a free-agent run at No. 35, most of the league’s best-placed observers on the subject continue to see Durant’s most probable choice as staying in OKC for the short term. That would mean signing a two-year deal with a player option after Year 1 that allows him to return to free agency in July 2017 … alongside Russell Westbrook.
Get used to that idea until the hard evidence at our disposal forces a revision.
By going that route, Durant would give himself at least one more shot to bring a championship to a city, state and franchise he loves — “[He] wants to win in Oklahoma as bad as anybody,” Durant’s agent, Rich Kleiman, told Marc Spears of The Undefeated — while preserving his own flexibility to move on should Westbrook decide he wants to go elsewhere when it’s his turn in a year.
This is the likeliest move for Durant. It just makes the most sense. I think that everybody knows that, but would rather not admit it, since we all want to experience the excitement of Kevin Durant’s free agency now, not a year from now.
