This LeBron/Kevin Durant “What If” Is Crazy To Think About
(NBC Sports) – LeBron James explained the difficulties of recruiting players to the Cavaliers: “A lot of people didn’t wanna come to Cleveland.”
But the Cavs still tried, even for Kevin Durant.
In late June 2016, just days after winning one of the most thrilling and historically significant NBA Finals in history, David Griffin, then the Cleveland Cavaliers’ GM, gathered his staff and gave them a directive: Explore ways to get Kevin Durant.
Everyone knew even getting a meeting was a long shot. They would have to gut most of their roster around LeBron James to acquire Durant. But they had to at least do their due diligence. By then, there was a creeping fear that Durant might really join the Golden State Warriors — fresh off a 73-win season and Finals heartbreak at the expense of James and the Cavs. Everyone understood what that would do to the league’s competitive landscape.
“I don’t believe you can dream big enough in the NBA,” Griffin says now in recalling that meeting. “You have to go through the exercise.”
The difference between the Cavaliers and Warriors, who got Durant: Cleveland got serious in its Durant exploration days before free agency. Golden State planned its pursuit more than a year in advance and, through Draymond Green, recruited Durant for months (and might have gotten him hooked early).
I sure as hell love a good NBA “what if” even if it’s a silly exercise and I must say this one right here is a doozy. It was obviously a long shot for the Cavs to ever think Durant would take his talents to Cleveland, but it’s pretty wild to think about. Obviously in terms of the potential suitors that summer the Cavs had the toughest route to landing KD. Even if they got rid of their entire team outside of Love/Kyrie they still wouldn’t have had enough cap space for a max deal, so likely one of those two would have had to be moved too. But let’s play the game and just assume one of those guys were the third piece, doesn’t matter who. Just think of how NBA history is changed forever if a move like that happens. There’s no Warriors dynasty, LeBron may never actually leave CLE a second time, Durant may still get his rings but my question is this.
Would you still hate Durant as much if he made this move? A large reason people think he’s a snake is because he joined a super team that just eliminated them from the playoffs. How would he be perceived if instead of joining a super team he joined forces with the best player on the planet? Something tells me he would still get some hate, but going to a gutted CLE team even with LeBron is a much different situation than what he went to in GS. There’s also this to consider, if Kyrie was the one that stayed, does he then not ask for a trade? What does that mean for the Celtics and how they planned their rebuild? Remember they were in on Durant too in 2016, didn’t get him and then changed course to ultimately bring in Kyrie. The ripple effects of this “what if” is endless when you really think about it.
So while this was the longest of long shots, you can’t fault CLE for at least doing their due diligence. It’s no secret LeBron wants him to join the Lakers and that probably won’t happen, so all we’re left with is wondering what might have been.