NBA free agency starts this Sunday at 6 pm, kicking off arguably the wildest 24 hours or so on the sports calendar. This year’s crop of free agents is arguably the best ever, with superstars like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving all on the market.
No matter what anyone says, no one really has any clue where any of these guys are headed. Maybe the players themselves don’t even know at this point. No one knows anything and anyone trying to say otherwise is just lying (besides Woj of course…Woj knows all). So I guess that makes this post kind of irrelevant then but just don’t worry about that and play along.
Kevin Durant – Nets
It’s been long-rumored that Kevin Durant wants to take his talents to NYC this summer, however I see him heading to Brooklyn instead of Manhattan. Durant will obviously miss most, if not all, of the 2019-20 season, but when he does come back Brooklyn will become one of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference. I think Durant desperately wants to be “the guy” and win a title on his own, no matter what he says. So that, plus some spotty handling of his injury this spring, leads me to think he’s leaving the Warriors. That puts him down to the Knicks and Nets in my mind. And while my Knicks are building an interesting young core with RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson, they do not compare to what’s going on in Brooklyn. Even if they lose D’Angelo Russell, the Nets will have a great chance at a title if they add Durant and one other star this summer, which I’ll get to in a moment.
Kawhi Leonard – Raptors
I was torn between the Raptors and Clippers on this one. Kawhi and his camp have been so predictably quiet about this process that I don’t think anyone really has any clue as to where his head is at. Hell, he could even end up teaming up with LeBron, Anthony Davis and the Lakers and it wouldn’t surprise me. But the NBA champion Raptors will have the last meeting with their MVP, and I think that holds significance. The only way, in my mind, that Leonard would even think about returning to Toronto would have been if they somehow won the NBA title. Well that happened, and now I am going to guess he stays put.
Klay Thompson – Warriors
This is perhaps the easiest prediction of the summer. Like his potentially former teammate Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson will also miss most or all of next season after he tore his ACL in the deciding game of the NBA Finals. Almost immediately, Thompson’s father told reporters his son will be back in Golden State, and I feel like he was telling the truth. Unless the Warriors dramatically lowball Thompson (which they won’t) he’ll be back in the Bay presumably for the remainder of his career. Even with the loss of Durant, the Warriors can remain NBA title competitors for the future with a core of Thompson, Steph Curry and Draymond Green.
Kyrie Irving – Nets
The potential marriage between Kyrie Irving and the Nets has been brewing since the moment the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs in May. Irving is 100 percent gone from Boston, in fact, he doesn’t even seem like he’s going to give the Celtics a fair shot at re-signing him. I think Brooklyn is only interested in signing Irving if they are able to land Kevin Durant as well, since the upgrade from D’Angelo Russell to Kyrie would be marginal at best (plus, Russell is four years younger). But since I’ve already picked the Nets to sign Durant, I’ll say that they hit a homerun and swipe Irving away from the Knicks as well.
Kemba Walker – Celtics
So who do the Celtics grab to replace Kyrie Irving at the point guard position? Well, none other than Kemba Walker. It’s been reported over the past week that Boston is the front runner to land Kemba, nullifying all that talk straight from Walker himself about wanting to return to Charlotte. While Walker is a step down from Irving and probably a step down from that “elite” level of NBA players, he is still an All-Star who will lead the Celtics into their next era. Plus, he has experience playing in the New England area when he spent a few years at UConn and led the Huskies to a national title in 2011.
Jimmy Butler – 76ers
Rockets GM Daryl Morey has been open about wanting to land Jimmy Butler as a third star to pair with James Harden and Chris Paul and take a shot at the suddenly-open Western Conference crown. That’s a great plan, the only issue is the Rockets do not have nearly enough cap space to just sign Butler as a free agent. So to land Butler, Houston would essentially have to gut its entire roster minus Paul and Harden, or try and get the 76ers to join a sign-and-trade. I just don’t see either of those happening. The other logical spot for Butler then is to return to Philadelphia, where he can make the most money and return to a team that was potentially a crazy bounce away from an Eastern Conference Final this year.
D’Angelo Russell – Lakers
This is a move that I could see taking a few days to happen, but I can definitely see it going down. Russell is a restricted free agent, but if the Nets sign Kyrie Irving, he obviously won’t be returning to Brooklyn. The Lakers are interested in bringing in a third star, and now have enough cap room to do so, but I see them pursuing Kawhi Leonard first and foremost. If that does not come to fruition however (and I don’t think it will) then Los Angeles could shift their focus to Russell, an All-Star point guard who could return to Hollywood and be the third fiddle to a LeBron-Anthony Davis superteam.
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