Golden State Warriors Not Likely To Land Kevin Durant This Offseason

The idea of Kevin Durant joining forces with the Golden State Warriors this offseason is titillating — but ultimately, not very likely to happen.

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The Golden State Warriors may not be entirely satisfied yet, despite winning the NBA title last season and jumping out to an NBA-best 47-4 record. With recent reports surfacing of the Warriors being the ‘favorites’ to sign soon-to-be free-agent Kevin Durant this summer, many wonder about the possibilities of a team that has Durant playing alongside Stephen Curry.

If this move actually were to be made, a lot would still have to be done to bring Durant to Golden State. Whether or not the Warriors bring in the 27 year-old superstar, it is fun to merely play around with the idea and speculate just how dominant the Warriors could be in 2016-17. But as we know, these major moves don’t come easy and usually result in a team being forced to get rid of some key pieces in order to make things work.

Could one imagine Durant playing on the same team with Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green? Insane, right? While the idea of these three playing together teases the minds of the Golden State faithful, let’s take a look into what may stand in the way of this signing actually coming to fruition:

1. Golden State may have to give up some core pieces in order to free up cap space:

Many have mentioned both Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala as players that the Warriors would possibly have to cut to free up cap space if they wanted to pursue Durant this offseason. Barnes is scheduled to make roughly $5 million next season, while Iguodala is set to make $11 million.

2. Maintaining chemistry may be vital

…or maybe not. Considering Curry’s dominant play thus far this season, it may not make chemistry an issue at all. But still, common sense points to good team chemistry being one of the biggest reasons a team makes a championship run in today’s NBA. And why potentially ruin the chemistry of the best team in the league — perhaps the best team in league history — by signing Durant?

3. Key players not getting enough touches

Durant, Curry, Thompson. Three very ball-dominant players who take up a large portion of touches for their respective teams. The reality of having Durant accompany Curry and Thompson — two of the most already offensively dominant players in the league — would be in one of these three players not being able to put up the number of shots that they are accustomed to taking.

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Much like the problems that resulted in the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Big Three” back in 2012, feelings could end up being hurt and selfishness may settle in over time. Curry is averaging a career-high 28.9 points per game, while Thompson is averaging 21.4 in the same category. The addition of Durant (27.8 PPG) into the starting-five for the Warriors would clearly result in a drop of offensive production for one of these three key players.

4. Would NBA commissioner Adam Silver approve?

If the Warriors somehow are able to free up enough cap space this summer to make a legitimate run at Durant, then the ball would be in Silver’s court. It just seems hard to believe that a top-five player in Durant would be allowed to join forces with arguably the best player in the league, followed by Thompson, who is potentially a top-10 talent in the NBA.

Basketball fans can recall then-commissioner David Stern vetoing a trade between the Lakers and New Orleans Hornets during the 2011-12 season that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers to play alongside Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant. While Silver and Stern are two completely different people, we cannot doubt Silver’s commitment as the commissioner to keeping the league fair and balanced — just as Stern did with the Lakers-Hornets trade.

Maybe all of the thoughts and predictions about Durant joining the Warriors end up being wrong come July and Silver allows the trade to happen. What would follow would be the establishment of what very well could be one of the most dominating teams in NBA history with Durant accompanying the “Splash Brothers.”

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While the thought of this happening is probably something that makes Warriors fans giddy, it just doesn’t seem incredibly likely to happen. The Warrior’s front office would really have to pull some strings to make this dream become a reality. And while possible, the biggest doubt in the minds of many lies with the likely decision of Silver to veto the trade.

But that’s not to say that the idea of Durant to The Bay isn’t one of the most exciting things in the minds of the NBA world in some time…