It's still 2014 and the NBA regular season has not even started yet but a lot of people are already speculating on Kevin Durant's future when he becomes a free agent in 2016. Durant, the reigning NBA MVP and perennial scoring champion, will surely be one of the most coveted players two summers from now.
Although Durant has expressed in numerous occasions that he loves being in Oklahoma City, a former New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey believes that if Durant does end up leaving the Thunder, it would be for the Los Angeles Lakers in a statement he made on CLNS Radio per Lakers Nation:
I say if Durant goes anywhere I look for him to go to the Lakers because they're going to have a tremendous amount of money to give him. Kobe will be on the way out at that point and they won't have anybody. A guy like him might want to start with the Lakers, or maybe he might want to go a team where he can win a championship.
Kobe Bryant has recently signed a two-year $48.5 million extension with the Los Angeles Lakers but the contract will expire in the summer of 2016 which means that the team will have tons of money to lure in big free agent names like Durant. By the time the free agency summer of 2016 begins, only Ryan Kelly, Julius Randle, and Nick Young will be left in the Lakers payroll per Lake Show Life and the team will have enough salary cap room to sign Kevin Durant and another star.
The Washington Wizards, however, are currently the greatest threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Durant when he becomes a free agent. Durant is a native of DC and the Wizards could try and convince the Thunder super star to come back home and play for his home town team much like what LeBron James did this summer when he signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops, in a video phone conversation with Noah Coslov of CineSport, believes that the Lakers, armed with plenty of salary cap room, has a real shot at acquiring the high-scoring Durant.
"I don't think you can really say that," Sheridan said when asked whether its just between the Wizards and Thunder for Durant this 2016 "Look, the Los Angeles Lakers is going to have a ton of cap room when Kobe Bryant's contract expires after the 2015-16 season. So you're not going to know the NBA landscape two years from now, much less one year from now."
Do you think the Los Angeles Lakers have a change at acquiring Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016?
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