According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, the New York Knicks and owner James Dolan did not offer a full max contract to Kevin Durant due to concerns with his Achilles tear in the NBA Finals.
The Knicks and owner Jim Dolan were not prepared to offer Kevin Durant a full max contract due to concerns over his recovery from the Achilles injury, league sources tell me and @wojespn. Knicks officials are in Los Angeles tonight, meeting with free agents such as Julius Randle.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 30, 2019
As so many within the basketball community predicted throughout the course of the season, Kevin Durant is on his way to New York next season. Only, he will be playing for the Brooklyn Nets and not the Knicks.
The refusal to offer a max contract by James Dolan is a rather confusing stance — but a very typical one — on behalf of Knicks ownership. After all, this is the same team that repeatedly professed faith in Kristaps Porzingis's recovery from an ACL injury before ultimately dealing Porzingis to open up yet another max slot in the first place.
Perhaps New York's front office was showing restraint out of fear that Durant may not ever be the same player again, but even if the Achilles does indeed limit Durant, he would likely remain one of the better players in the league, simply due to his skill set and his unique blend of size and shooting ability. He is too talented and hard-working to endure a significant dropoff.
Additionally, reaching an agreement with Durant almost certainly would have guaranteed a second star coming to the Knicks simply because of the stature Durant possesses as an individual talent.
Instead, the Knicks find themselves with over $80 million in cap space and the very real possibility that they will miss out on all of the top-tier free agents.
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