Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka has expressed his confidence that Kevin Durant will be in a Thunder uniform next season. When addressing it himself, Durant has used the word “selfish” to describe his mindset as he approaches free agency, which could lead to a few different outcomes.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti obviously hopes to keep the four-time scoring champion and 2011 MVP in Oklahoma City. Presti spoke on being prepared for the process of meeting with Durant about the future.
Via Associated Press (hat-tip NBC Sports):
“We have the opportunity to sit down with him and talk about what looks like an incredibly bright future together,” Presti said Monday. “I think you have to embrace that. You have to really lean into that in an excited way without knowing what the outcome might be. But I don’t see any reason to shy away from that.”
Presti is in favor of Durant being patient with his decision:
“I think it really is important for him to take his time, get away from things,” Presti said. “Look, Kevin is a highly, highly intelligent person. He’s a mature person. He’s a rational person, and he’s going to work through the decision in a way that will help him do what he feels is best for him. We’ll react accordingly once we have that information, and we’ll try to be as prepared as possible.”
Durant sat out most of last season with a broken foot only to return and have probably his best season of his career. Presti acknowledges:
“I thought the season he had was just remarkable,” Presti said. “I’m just really happy for him because I thought he had a lot of fun during the year, and I watched him this time last year in a pool. I remember when he started to just start walking – like it was celebratory – to go from that to having maybe his most efficient year.”
The latest report on what may happen with Durant brought up a potential two-year deal with the Thunder with a player option on the second year, which would give him a chance to be a free agent next summer along with teammate Russell Westbrook.
Presti crediting Durant’s intelligence might even subtly suggest that his best move would be to stay in OKC and pursue another title run. After all, the Thunder took the defending champions to their limit in a riveting seven-game Western Conference Finals, implying that they truly are right on the cusp of a championship.
We’ll see the extent of Durant’s patience with this decision in the coming months while Presti and the Thunder franchise prepare to establish their claim that he should stay put.
