Kevin Durant Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Clippers Rumors: Beverley, Durant, Butler, Harris

December 4th, 2018 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Back in July, we heard that Tobias Harris turned down a four-year extension offer from the Clippers. According to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, Harris wasn’t the only player with whom the Clippers discussed a contract extension this year. Deveney hears from a source that the team also spoke to guard Patrick Beverley about a new deal, despite the fact that he was still rehabbing from knee surgery at the time. Beverley decided to play out the final season of his contract instead.

Beverley, who is earning just over $5MM this season, would have been eligible for an extension worth up to about $47.5MM over four years, though the Clippers almost certainly offered less than that. I’d guess Los Angeles made an effort to lock up Beverley at a team-friendly rate following his long injury absence, with the 30-year-old betting he could rebuild his value in advance of his 2019 free agency.

Here’s more from out of Los Angeles:

The Clippers are keeping a close eye on Kevin Durant‘s situation in Golden State, and have every intention of making a pitch to Durant in free agency next summer, Deveney reports. Deveney suggests that Durant seems likely to hear out the Clips, though with his free agency still seven months away, it’s hard to get a sense at this point of what the process will look like.
The Clippers made “no significant push” to acquire Jimmy Butler when the Timberwolves were shopping him earlier this fall, sources tell Deveney. As we heard during that saga, the Clips were strongly opposed to including Tobias Harris in a package for Butler, and that stance has paid off so far — Harris, who leads L.A. in PPG (21.6) and RPG (8.4), has been the club’s best player this season.
Patrick Beverley was fined $25K by the NBA for throwing the ball at a spectator on Sunday, the league announced today in a press release.

Woj: Nets Have Price In Mind For Spencer Dinwiddie

December 1st, 2018 at 10:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets would “very much like to keep” guard Spencer Dinwiddie, but only at the right price, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski said today in an interview with Fordham’s student radio station (hat tip to NetsDaily).

Wojnarowski wouldn’t speculate on how much Brooklyn’s front office is willing to give Dinwiddie, but it’s obviously less than the four-year, $47.5MM extension he’s eligible to receive starting next Saturday. The Nets have until the end of June to finalize an extension with Dinwiddie, who is currently making the league minimum. He will become a free agent July 1 if no deal is in place by then.

“I think the Nets would very much like to keep him and keep him long term but again, it’s negotiation,” Wojnarowski said. “It will be at a number — I don’t know what the number is for Brooklyn — but I’m sure they have in their minds a sense of what they’re willing to do and then how does that measure up to what the other options are, what it does to their cap space, what they want to do with D’Angelo Russell.”

Dinwiddie is having a career year in a reserve role, averaging 15.9 PPG and shooting 37% from 3-point range. Wojnarowski believes there will be a strong market for Dinwiddie if he reaches free agency and predicts the Nets will try to re-sign him if they can’t come to terms on an extension.

Wojnarowski touched on a few other topics in the interview, saying:

The Nets are unlikely to trade for an “established player” this season. Management seems content to keep the current core in place and try to make additions through free agency.
The Knicks seem like a long shot to land Kevin Durant because they don’t have a strong foundation already in place. He noted that elite free agents have historically gone to teams that are already equipped to contend for a title.
The Wizards would demand a high price if they elect to trade Bradley Beal. However, they may have to take on a long-term contract to unload the $81MM they still owe to Otto Porter.
Nothing is expected to happen with Sixers guard Markelle Fultz until “more clarity” is obtained on his physical condition.

Pacific Notes: Bridges, Kings, Green, Durant

November 21st, 2018 at 11:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

A draft night trade that sent Mikal Bridges from the Sixers to the Suns gave the rookie a better chance to excel than he would have had in Philadelphia, writes Sarah Todd of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Bridges, who was in the starting lineup when the teams met Monday, has been playing roughly 20 minutes per game in Phoenix and averaging 8.0 points per night.

The draft was briefly a dream come true for Bridges, who grew up in Philadelphia and played at Villanova. But after the Sixers selected him with the 10th pick, they accepted an offer from the Suns that gave them 16th pick Zhaire Smith and an unprotected first-rounder in 2021.

“He’s starting to feel good about the situation, he’s playing more, he’s having more success,” said Jack Bridges, Mikal’s father. “At the end of the day, he just wants to win.”

There’s more tonight from the Pacific Division:

The Kings have been able to block out distractions on their way to a 10-8 start, even a weekend report that coach Dave Joerger’s job was in jeopardy because of a dispute with management over playing time for younger players, relays Jason Jones of The Athletic. Although turmoil has defined the organization over the past decade, this new crop of Kings seems to be able to ignore negative influences. “We’re not worried about any of that stuff outside the locker room,” Willie Cauley-Stein said. “We’re just worried about our guys, developing our guys and everybody just leveling up. For us, the business side of this, we can’t control none of that, we don’t care about none of that at the end of the day. We want to get get better, we want to win ball games.”
Draymond Green is reasserting himself as a leader in the Warriors‘ locker room after last week’s altercation with Kevin Durant, says Shams Charania of The Athletic in a Twitter video. Green addressed the team following Sunday’s loss in San Antonio, emphasizing the need to regroup and pointing out areas that need to be worked on. Charania adds that the Warriors remain confident that things will be fine once Stephen Curry returns from his injury.
Durant was fined $25K for a profane comment he made to a fan during Saturday’s Warriors game in Dallas, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Warriors Believed Team Chemistry Was At Stake After Draymond Green Altercation

November 21st, 2018 at 3:13pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Warriors winning their third straight title seems much less likely now than it did prior to the season. Golden State’s appears mortal on the court and off the court, there’s plenty to be concerned about even if Kevin Durant claims the tiff with Draymond Green won’t impact his long-term decision making.

The team suspended Green for the altercation and according to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, both coach Steve Kerr and GM Bob Myers believed that the chemistry of the entire team was at stake. They wanted to make sure the situation didn’t develop into a series of “personal grievances and lingering resentments,” Kawakami writes. The suspension was handed down to prevent Green from dictating the mood and terms for the remainder of the season into the offseason.

Team management was upset that the move was viewed as the organization picking Durant over Green. While it’s easy to look at it that way, the decision to suspend Green had more to do with making sure the chemistry of the team would remain repairable.

If Durant leaves, the Warriors want it to be because it was his own choice and not because another player was barking at him.

Durant: Green Incident Won’t Affect Free Agency Decision

November 21st, 2018 at 8:33am CST by Luke Adams

More than a week after his much–discussed on-court confrontation with Draymond Green took place in Los Angeles, Kevin Durant tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he’s ready to move on from that incident, adding that it will have no bearing on his free agency decision during the summer of 2019.

“Nah, [it won’t factor],” Durant said on Tuesday. “Because at the end of the day, I’m just a ballplayer that’s just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that once the game starts, I’m just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me.”

Durant spoke at length to Haynes about the aftermath of the altercation, which he says he didn’t consider as serious as everyone else made it out to be. While the two-time Finals MVP admits he was upset in the moment, he tells Haynes it didn’t take long to put the whole thing in perspective.

“I was upset, but I know that I can’t hold on to something like this,” Durant said. “I know that I’ve got to make a choice with myself, like how long are you going to be upset about this to the point where you’re going to let it affect what you do on the floor or how you approach the game? Once it gets there now, I got to make a grown-man decision and tell myself, ‘Look, man, no matter what, you still got to come to work every single day. It’s going to work out. It’s going to figure itself out.’ And I think everyone’s been handling it the best way they could and we’re just trying to move forward with it.”

Durant has a player option for 2019/20, but is expected to turn it down to become an unrestricted free agent. He’ll have full Bird rights at that point, meaning he could sign a five-year deal with the Warriors. He could get up to four years from any other team, and several big-market clubs around the NBA expect to have significant cap room, including the Knicks, Nets, Clippers, and Lakers.

There has already been plenty of speculation about Durant’s eventual decision, and last week’s incident only helped to create more “outside” noise, which the star forward suggests has been more frustrating than the confrontation itself.

“It’s always going to come back,” Durant said to Haynes. “Like, ‘Are they all right? Man, he didn’t play well. Is he going to leave?’ Why do I even have to think about that at this point? … Then it turned into, ‘K.D.’s going to this place, he doesn’t like the Warriors no more. He should go here, he should go there.’ More distractions.”

Warriors Notes: Green, Durant, Carmelo

November 20th, 2018 at 1:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The last week has represented perhaps the most challenging stretch of the Warriors‘ current era. Since last Monday, the club has lost four of five games, including three straight, and has dealt with the ongoing fallout of a much-publicized confrontation between All-Stars Draymond Green and Kevin Durant.

Despite their week of turmoil, the Warriors remain confident in their outlook going forward, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. Golden State has too much talent not to turn things around, especially once Stephen Curry is healthy enough to return to action, and winning figures to help solve any other problems that ail the team, as Quinn Cook observes.

“I just think if we would have won these past two games, nobody would be talking about it anymore,” Cook said of last week’s Green/Durant incident. “I think we just got to be better on the floor, and nobody will remember this once we start winning again.”

As Friedell observes in a separate piece for ESPN.com, head coach Steve Kerr isn’t complaining about the Dubs’ recent struggles, pointing out that the franchise has lived a “charmed existence” for the last several years.

“This is the real NBA,” Kerr said. “We haven’t been in the real NBA the last few years. We’ve been in this dream. And so now we’re faced real adversity and we got to get out of it ourselves.”

As the Warriors prepare for a Wednesday showdown against the Thunder, let’s round up a few more notes on the club:

Don’t expect the Warriors to pursue Carmelo Anthony if and when he’s waived by Houston, says Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Spears hears from a source that Golden State has no interest in Anthony.
Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area lays out all the reasons why it wouldn’t make any sense for the Warriors to consider trading Kevin Durant or Draymond Green this season, despite their recent altercation and possible lingering tension.
Is Green worth a maximum-salary investment? Frank Urbina of HoopsHype explores that subject, concluding that – as valuable as he is – it’s hard to imagine Green securing a long-term max deal when he eventually reaches free agency in 2020 at age 30.
In an interesting piece for The Athletic, Anthony Slater explores how the modern media landscape makes it difficult for NBA players and teams to quickly move past incidents like last week’s confrontation between Durant and Green.

Warriors Notes: Curry, Durant, Green, Lacob

November 18th, 2018 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Stephen Curry made his first public comments Saturday on the Kevin Durant–Draymond Green altercation, trying to smooth over an incident that some have suggested could lead to the end of the Warriors‘ dynasty, relays Nick Friedell of ESPN.

“I think the way we’ve handled it as a team, the way Draymond’s handled it, the way KD’s handled it, it’s been nothing but professionalism and understanding that it’s about the team,” Curry told reporters before Saturday’s game. “And the conversations that we’ve all had, whether it’s one-on-one, as a team, is keeping that in mind. We have the opportunity to do something extremely special this year. There’s going to be ups and downs and bumps in the road, whether it’s self-inflicted or whether it’s from outside.”

The Warriors suspended Green for one game for a verbal tirade against Durant in an overtime loss to the Clippers. Durant was calling for the ball at the end of regulation, but Green kept it and committed a turnover. Durant snapped at Green and he unleashed an angry response in which he referenced Durant’s upcoming free agency and allegedly said, “We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave.”

“They have a lot of equity built in their relationship,” Curry said of Durant and Green. “We’ve won championships together. They’ve brought out the best in each other. Obviously, I don’t think they’ve had an incident to this level, but you don’t have the experiences you’ve had and go through the journey that we’ve been on and let it be derailed by something like that. Obviously, from a personal standpoint, there are things that need to be worked through. That’s like any relationship in life. But at the end of the day, they both understand that neither one of them is going to be a reason that we don’t win a championship this year. I can roll with that.”

There’s more Warriors news this morning:

Curry, who has missed the past five games, is making progress with a strained left groin, even though he won’t be re-evaluated for another week, Friedell adds in the same story. “Progress is moving in the right direction,” Curry said. “Haven’t had any setbacks or anything like that. But it’s more so about getting full range of motion, doing so where it’s pain-free and things like that. I’m learning about this one. I can tell you everything you want to know about ankles. But this is obviously a new one for me, so trying to make sure I stay cautious, but knowing that we’re moving in the right direction. So I don’t know how long it will be, but that’s all I can pretty much ask for.”
Owner Joe Lacob denies that the decision to suspend Green and not Durant means the organization is taking sides in their dispute, relays Al Saracevic of The San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve read and heard all the things people are talking about. That we’re choosing one person over another,” Lacob said. “We’re not choosing anybody over anybody.” He said the decision to discipline Green was “totally a management issue” and complimented GM Bob Myers and coach Steve Kerr on how they handled it.
There’s still time to vote in our poll on Durant’s future beyond this season.

Latest Updates On Green, Durant, Warriors

November 16th, 2018 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

Details continue to trickle out about the confrontation that took place between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green on Monday night, a story that has dominated NBA headlines all week. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports is the latest to piece together specifics on the barbs exchanged, writing that Green called Durant a “b***h” multiple times, continuing to rant even as head coach Steve Kerr tried to direct his players’ attention to his whiteboard.

Paraphrasing Green’s comments, Haynes reports that the former Defensive Player of the Year shouted something to the effect of “You’re a b***h and you know you’re a b***h,” later adding a comment along the lines of “We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave.”

Sources tell Haynes that there was a point during the argument when Durant cringed, when it evolved from a typical basketball argument into something deeper and more personal.

While the two teammates claimed they’d be fine moving forward, things didn’t get off to a great start in Houston last night, as the Warriors lost by 21 points to the Rockets, with Green going scoreless in 24 minutes. After the game, when Durant was asked by one reporter about his relationship with Green, he tersely told the reporter, “Don’t ask me about that again,” as Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group relays.

Here’s more out of Golden State:

Sources tell Haynes that Green was dismayed that Durant would show him up at such a crucial moment in Monday’s game, and took exception to Durant’s criticism because he felt his desire to win was being questioned. This also came at a time when Green had just returned prematurely from his toe injury, according to Haynes, who cites that early return as an example of how badly the big man wants to be on the court with his teammates.
Rival teams and players are “attempting to gather more information on the morale and status” of the Dubs, per Haynes, who says that the saga is being viewed as “promising” for the opposition.
Durant, who has the ability to veto any trade this season, has shown no interest in being moved and remains committed to returning to the Finals with the Warriors, a source tells Sam Amick of USA Today. “We’ve got a three-peat upon us,” the source said.
Amick suggests that this entire saga isn’t about Durant’s upcoming free agency as much as it’s about Green’s “vocal attitude” about Durant’s free agency. While other Warriors may not love Durant’s approach to his contract situation, Green is the only one to voice his disapproval. “No one cares except for Draymond,” one source said to Amick.

Pacific Notes: Chandler, Durant, Kings, McGee

November 15th, 2018 at 8:44pm CST by JD Shaw

Before signing with the Lakers as a free agent, veteran center Tyson Chandler registered interest from a handful of teams across the NBA.

Among these teams were the Warriors, according to Jon Becker of The Mercury News, adding that Chandler narrowed his decision down to the Warriors and Lakers. Chandler, an L.A. native, ultimately chose to sign with the Lakers.

“I think it was like five teams, and I narrowed it down to two,” Chandler said this week. “And then I had to do some heavy thinking and praying and then I can only see myself in a Lakers uniform, so it kind of made the decision for me.”

The opportunity to play for his hometown team in Los Angeles with LeBron James was too much to turn away for Chandler, who’s been impressive off the Lakers’ bench so far this season.

Here are some other notes from the Pacific Division:

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explains why Kevin Durant is the NBA’s most powerful person, writing about his altercation with teammate Draymond Green from earlier in the week. Durant, a consensus top-3 player in the NBA, could leave the Warriors as a free agent next July.
The Kings received praise from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich this week, with Popovich lauding the organization for improving its culture. “I was really impressed, their culture is changing — it’s changed drastically,” Popovich said, according to James Ham of NBC Sports. “Guys are committed, guys are physical, taking some pride in defense. I think Vlade [Divac] and the team have made some good moves, and I think Dave [Joerger]’s done a great job of bringing that group together. They look really good. It’s impressive.”
Tyson Chandler says he signed with the Lakers to complement starting center JaVale McGee, not to compete against him for minutes, Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times writes. “It’s not about me and him,” Chandler said, choosing to keep his focus on the overall team goal.

Poll: Kevin Durant’s Future

November 15th, 2018 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

When Kevin Durant reaches free agency in 2019, there’s a chance he could be coming off a third straight championship — and maybe even a third consecutive NBA Finals MVP award. Durant already has two of each under his belt, and remains one of the league’s very best players, on a team considered the overwhelming favorite to win the title.

Throw in the fact that Durant will have full Bird rights in 2019, giving him the opportunity to sign a five-year contract worth up to a projected $221MM, and it’s hard to imagine why he’d leave the Warriors, who would have the ability to cement their legacy as one of the NBA’s best teams of all-time as long as they keep racking up titles.

Still, Durant hasn’t committed to the Warriors at all beyond 2018/19, leading to ongoing speculation that he could jump ship at season’s end. The uncertainty surrounding the former MVP played a part in Monday’s altercation between Durant and Draymond Green, who reportedly let out his frustrations during the back-and-forth over the way his teammate has handled his upcoming free agency.

Durant’s free agency will be fascinating for a number of reasons, particularly if the Warriors win the championship again this season. It’s hard to imagine a star player who has won three consecutive titles with a team leaving his organization for a lesser contender. On the other hand, several big-market NBA franchises will have cap room for a max-salary player in 2019, creating some tantalizing possibilities for Durant, who may be ready for a new challenge.

If he’s interested in teaming up with LeBron James and trying to win titles for the league’s most iconic franchise, the Lakers could be appealing. Their Los Angeles rivals, the Clippers, are being run by a effective management team that includes owner Steve Ballmer and veteran executive Jerry West, and would provide Durant an opportunity to be the unquestioned star of an L.A. franchise. The Knicks will have Kristaps Porzingis back, and the idea of playing in Madison Square Garden and turning around a moribund franchise may intrigue Durant and Rich Kleiman, his agent and business partner, who grew up as a Knicks fan.

Several other teams around the NBA will also have cap space in 2019, creating a plethora of viable options for Durant, depending on what his priorities are. Of course, he initially chose the Warriors because he wanted to win and because he wanted to live in the Bay Area, and those factors still arguably make Golden State his best option — especially with the team set to move into its new San Francisco arena next season.

What do you think? Is this Durant’s last season with the Warriors or will he still be playing for the Dubs next season at this time? Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to share your two cents.

Will Kevin Durant be a Warrior beyond this season?

No 76.69% (1,790 votes)

Yes 23.31% (544 votes)

Total Votes: 2,334

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.