Where will Kevin Durant end up this summer? Even his current team doesn’t know.
Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti told reporters Monday he will give Durant his space as the former NBA MVP prepares to enter free agency.
“We’ll get an answer from him at the appropriate time,” Presti said, via ESPN.com. “I think it really is important for him to take his time, get away from things.
“Look, Kevin is a highly, highly intelligent person. He’s a mature person. He’s a rational person, and he’s going to work through the decision in a way that will help him do what he feels is best for him. We’ll react accordingly once we have that information, and we’ll try to be as prepared as possible.”
Durant has spent his entire nine-year career with Seattle/Oklahoma City, which drafted him second overall in 2007. Though this season again ended in disappointing fashion for the Thunder, who blew a 3-1 series lead to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals, Presti had high praise for the way the 27-year-old forward has handled his business.
“I also think Kevin deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the way he’s handled his affairs, because what it really did was it allowed our team to focus on the season and really made the season we had possible,” Presti said. “I thought it was a tremendous example of a franchise player putting the franchise first. I thought it was also a tremendous example of leadership on his part, because we’re not able to have that season unless he’s handling his affairs the way that he did.”
NBA free agency opens July 1. If Durant and the Thunder cannot come to terms on a new contract before then, he will have no shortage of suitors.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports ImagesÂ
