NBA Rumors: New York Knicks Engaged In A ‘Straight-Up Meeting’ With Kevin Durant In January, Per ‘Heavy’
The departure of Kevin Durant from the Golden State Warriors has been one of the most talked about topics in the league in the past months. Once he succeeds to win his third consecutive NBA championship title with the Warriors, Durant is expected to leave Golden State to face the next biggest challenge of his NBA career. As of now, one of the NBA teams emerging as his next landing spot in the 2019 NBA free agency is the New York Knicks.
The Knicks decided to keep DeAndre Jordan for the rest of the 2018-19 NBA season with the hope that he can help them recruit Kevin Durant next summer. However, Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Heavy revealed that the Knicks had started their recruitment of the Warriors superstar even before they acquired Jordan from the Dallas Mavericks. A source who reportedly spoke to Robinson said that the Knicks engaged in a “straight-up meeting” with Durant in January when the Knicks and the Warriors faced each other on the court.
“Learned from an east coast entertainment and media connection that the Knicks were straight-up communicating with KD earlier this season,” a league source told Robinson by text message. “As in meeting up with KD…It could’ve been when the Warriors were on an East coast trip, or maybe when the Knicks visited the Bay Area.”
Kevin Durant to miss Wednesday's game vs. Rockets. Here's the latest on his injury https://t.co/Kpky5BI1E3
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 13, 2019
It’s hardly a surprise why the Knicks are becoming more desperate in bringing a superstar in New York. The Knicks have been rotting at the bottom of the league for years and there have already been calls for James Dolan to sell the team. Acquiring a player like Kevin Durant could somewhat help the Knicks change the narrative in the 2019-20 NBA season.
Kevin Durant is still in his prime, and he is expected to remain as one of the most dominant players in the league for the next couple of years. This season, the 30-year-old small forward is averaging 27.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.2 blocks on 51.3 percent shooting from the field and 35.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
After dumping the lucrative contracts of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee to the Mavericks before the February NBA trade deadline, the Knicks have created enough salary cap space to give Kevin Durant a max contract together with another incoming free agent superstar. Aside from Durant, the other superstar who is topping the list of the Knicks’ target in the 2019 NBA offseason is Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics.
