Kevin Durant and Chris Paul (Photo : Twitter)
What was once considered as a pipe dream could actually end up as a real proposal. Kevin Durant may end with a team that does not even have the cap space to sign him.
With more than half the league being suitors for Kevin Durant with the cap space to sign him outright, it will be an uphill battle for the Clippers but they are determined to take a shot according to the editor in chief of their team blog, Lucas J. Hann.
Hearing Clippers are very dedicated to their pursuit of Kevin Durant this summer in a Griffin-Durant sign-and-trade.
— Lucas Is In Ecuador (@LucasJHann) June 7, 2016
Why would Durant do this? The Clippers are no pushovers, they finished 4th in the Western Conference behind the West's big three (that includes OKC). In fact, they were only two games behind the Thunder (55 wins for OKC, 53 for the Clips).
In their team site, Clips Nation, they accept that it's a sensible idea but "shouldn't hold their breath." This is because the Thunder, who was just one game away from the NBA Finals can still improve.
"The Thunder are younger than the Clippers," Clips Nation admitted. "Austin Rivers is the only young-ish rotation player on the Clippers, and it is fairly unlikely that he substantially improves much more than he already has. The Thunder, on the other hand, has Andre Roberson, Steven Adams, and Cameron Payne as sources of upside."
While that is accurate, there are also reasons why a move to the Clippers could be good for Durant. For one thing, Blake Griffin was out for significant parts of the season yet the Clippers continued to win. It could be argued that while the Thunder is the better team now, adding Durant to the Clippers would make them stronger. Since Griffin was out for half of that 53-29 record, the team is virtually adding Durant.
Another major factor is Chris Paul. While Russell Westbrook is a top 5 player and a triple-double machine, his tendency to play "heroball" was one of the factors that cost them the series against the Warriors. Sure, Durant was also guilty of that in Game 7, but it actually emphasizes the point. Even if you have two top 5 players, if they don't play team ball, they would lose.
Chris Paul is still a traditional pass-first point guard that could make his teammates better-more than Westbrook can. With a defensive behemoth in DeAndre Jordan, the Clippers could be the most-balanced team if KD joins them, and they also have an NBA champion coach.
Still, despite the Clippers being dedicated to proposing this, it's all up to KD. If he does tell OKC that he's leaving, there's no reason for the Thunder not to cooperate and at least get Blake Griffin in return. But remember, KD has other, less complicated options.
