Were the Warriors ever really in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes? Yes, there were reports of interest, and Durant and some of the Warriors’ core players spoke, but it always seemed to be more in an “it’s crazy that could even happen” way, not a “we need to make this happen” way.
Warriors GM Bob Myers was at the ESPYs on Wednesday night and was asked about Durant by Mark Medina of NBA.com. Myers all but shut that talk down.
“I like our team and where it’s at,” Myers told NBA.com. “I want to give the guys a chance to do it again…
“It’s a good group. We’re lucky. It’ll be fun to see,” Myers said. “We were really hunting last year. Now I guess we’re back to being the hunted, which I didn’t think we’d be. We’ll see. I think we can handle it.”
Myers’ “Nah, we good” response echoes what Stephen Curry said when asked about a KD reunion.
The Warriors are defending NBA champions bringing their entire core back. While Durant is unquestionably one of the great scorers the game has ever seen — and was a deserving two-time Finals MVP with the Warriors — why would Golden State break up that core and take on Durant’s contract to get marginally better. Yes, they did it before, but that was after a Finals loss and at a time the salary cap spiked, allowing the Warriors to get KD without tearing up their core. Now? Any Durant trade sends a lot of good players back to Brooklyn, plus a lot of picks.
The Warriors are already at the top of the list of contenders. They are not getting in the Durant sweepstakes.
It’s not just the Warriors. All talk around a Durant trade has cooled. With other teams not feeling the need to increase their offers and start a bidding war — because it would strip their team down to get him at the Nets’ asking price, and even if a team did land him, how long could they keep him happy? — this feels like a situation that will drag into training camp. Or maybe longer.
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Warriors out of Durant sweepstakes? GM says “I like our team and where it’s at” originally appeared on NBCSports.com