Woj Sources: Warriors serious threat to sign Kevin Durant

If you're GSW and you win 75ish games and coast to an NBA Title, why would you mess with that? It's not like you can really get any better at that point. I would you think just resign everyone and ride this team out as long as you can.

 

The main issue, IMO, is that they'd lose a fair amount of depth in order to sign Durant.

The thing the Warriors can look at is that they'll have $15M in cap space without dumping Bogut, Iguodala, Barnes or Ezeli. They can't sign a max free agent with that, but they could add a good player to an already deep team or two okay players. Considering their starting lineup is already stacked and Iguodala, Livingston and Ezeli give them some tremendous bench players, adding one or two good/useful players could make them as or more scary overall.

It wouldn't have the "wow" factor of Durant, but considering there could be diminishing returns on three volume scorers in the starting lineup (and you can't plausibly move any of them to the bench without risking major chemistry issues), it could be a good option.

 

Totally agree. Adding a middle-tier player to an already great team is a more likely route to more titles than blowing up your depth to add another star that you may not even need or benefit from. There are only so many shots, so Durant scoring a bunch is likely to just take some away from the most efficient player in the league. It's not like GSW is lacking offense or isn't diverse enough or whatever.

 

It's simple. Iggy is getting old and Bogut probably has 3 years max left, he's constantly injured. They're both 32 years old, which is getting up there for an NBA player. This would extend their championship window with the roster from 3 years to 7 or 8. You're losing Barnes but replacing him with Durant, who is likely one of the 20 greatest players in NBA history. The fact of the matter is that if Durant went to Golden State, it would be a disaster for the rest of the league. People can talk about him playing second fiddle, that's a joke. He would get 15-20 shots a game and would be the co-leader with Curry, like LeBron and Wade were in 2011 before Wade's decline. That team would STEAMROLL the league for the next decade, as constructed the Warriors are likely at their absolute peak right now and will start to slightly decline the next few years with Iggy/Bogut getting old.

 

In Toronto with ESPN Radio, Kevin Durant addressed the possibility of signing a short-term contract this summer to, in essence, delay his free agency one year and put himself on the same track with teammate Russell Westbrook. "Actually that's probably one of the first times I've heard that one, but, no , I haven't really thought about it, man. I'm just, with [coming back from] injury and just getting back to playing again, I haven't thought about contracts or free agency or none of that stuff at all. ... I really haven't thought about that one. I guess I have to." — Marc Stein

Some Warriors Think They'll Sign Kevin Durant In Free Agency

 

It will be nuts in the Bay Area if GSW signs Durant. My daughters will never let me hear the end of it.

 

Wouldn't it be better for them to keep their core as it is now than sign Durant? I know that sounds silly not signing a top 3 player in the NBA, but what they have now with the guys they have is something obviously nobody in the NBA can defend or compete with really. Of course as time goes on, teams will get better and the Warriors will face tougher tests, but my question is, is it worth it to break the chemistry and success of your current core to acquire Durant? There wouldn't many teams in NBA history that would have to think about a question like that, but with the Warriors, they've achieved so much in such little time with a young core and one of those pieces would have to go in order for Durant to sign (I'm pretty sure it'll be Harrison Barnes if it happens unless he takes a pay cut).

It's hard to reject signing a top 3 NBA player though.

 

WOJ is falling off... Dwight not moving and Durant not going to OKC...

 

If the Warriors have to sacrifice most of their depth to get Durant, they will not be a better team.

 

They won't need to give up all their depth, but they would lose a few, like Bogut (or Iguodala, but I think they'd keep Iguodala over Bogut because Iggy better fits what they do best), Jason Thompson, Leandro Barbosa. But those are somewhat minor losses. They can use the MLE and veteran's minimum to get solid reserves who want to win.

They could theoretically keep Barnes (and Ezeli) by re-signing them after signing Durant, using Bird Rights to go over the cap. But if Barnes wants a "mini-max" (a max signed after a rookie deal, which is quite a bit smaller than the veteran's max that someone like Durant can sign), that would push the Warriors solidly into the luxury tax. Of course, with the cap jumping again next year, most likely, that may not be as painful.

It really comes down to how much the Warriors are willing to spend. They could add Durant, keep almost all their best players (minus one of Bogut or Iguodala) and spend a gigantic amount. Or they could sign Durant, let Barnes go too and keep the cost more modest. Or just not sign Durant and stick mostly with what they have. It'll be an interesting offseason for them if Durant is willing to sign with them.

 

Depth wise, sure. But eventually those players are gonna want to be paid and as players leave, having Durant would balance the inevitable losses.

 

Lets not forget about Durant's foot injury.

 

If Cyberx says Durant to Dubs is overplayed, I'm going to believe him..

 

If they win a championship this year . . .. Durant would be foolish to go there
Every loss will be his fault
Every non championship year will be his fault

Rocket River

 

You guys are seriously overthinking things.

Curry
Thompson
Durant
Green
Ezeli

How do you guard that lineup? The current way to "beat" the Warriors is to double curry, face guard Thompson, and force someone else to beat you. Well, you just added arguably the greatest scorer in the history of basketball to that team. The same guy who plays off of the basketball and is a great passer for his position. It would be an absolute joke. You would be forced to play man to man against everyone, you couldn't double Curry or Durant.

 

Durant would be a p***y assed ring chaser if he went to the Warriors.

Coat tailing lil beatch.

What about building another super team to take down the Warriors? Pride and glory can be found doing this.

 

I am not sure why GSW would want to mess up what they have going on. bird in hand...

Durant will be taking shots away from SOMEONE on the team...and it's the last thing they need...another scorer. team chemistry/efficiency > star power.

 

You easily sign Durant. Durant is like LMA joining the Spurs. If you get the chance to add a top 5 player in the NBA without losing your top 3 players on a 90% win team, you do it. LOL....

You guys act like these guys care about their shots. Have you ever seen the Warriors play basketball??! They're so efficient because they are so unselfish!

If Durant joins the Warriors, expect Currys shots to go back to what it was last year. You'll see Thompson take the biggest hit as far as shots go.

Imagine a small ball lineup of

Curry, Thompson, AI, Durant, Green --- just absolutely nuts.

Everyone is locked up for a few years, then max out Curry when his contract comes up. You dominate the next 4 years easily with this team.

 

All they have to do is trade Bogut, Iggy and cut Livingston and Jason Thompson, all of whom are 30+ years old.

Durant + vet min replacements >>>>> an aging Bogut, Iggy and Livingston

 

On NBA 2k maybe. The reality is that you get diminishing returns on every additional superstar you get, KD is great enough to anchor an offense by himself but on a team which already includes Kthompson, Curry and Draymond Green how much do you need additonal perimeter offense? If KD goes for 20M then IMHO it might be better to stick with Iggy, Bogut and Livingston. Iggy for example costs less than KD but provides the glue and D that they need while Bogut gives them a reliable post threat, defense and rebs.

GSW right now are a tier above the rest of competition. Of course you don't want to stand pat but honestly adding KD at the expense of their C, SF and backup pg will just make them weaker because Curry is injury prone and KD has spent the last couple of years injured himself, the loss of 3 quality guys will make the load heavier for all of them and if Curry or KD goes down with injury they only have scrubs to replace them.

Look at how bad Wade and Bosh played with Lebron compared to now. Everyone and their uncle is saying its because of sharing the ball etc. but IMHO it is due to fatigue, Wade, Bosh and LBJ have to play so many mins and score a ton each game because apart from them and Mike Miller/Ray Allen the rest of the team were scrubs. By the 3rd finals Wade and Bosh were so worn out they scored less than 10 pts combined while LBJ started breaking down from all the heavy mins. Long term health and conditioning is way more important than raw talent if you want to build a dynasty.