If Kevin Durant really plans to join the New York Knicks this summer, NBA Hall of Famer Bernard King has an advice for him: get another superstar.
King, who played for five seasons with the Knicks during the 80s, told Marc Berman of the New York Post that Durant must recruit another superstar to play alongside him in New York if he wants to win a championship in the Big Apple.
“I think that given the fact they have space for two max contracts, he needs someone else to come along,” King said.
“That’s what you see around the league. Superstars playing together. Who that other player that would be — Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard — I don’t know. But if [Durant] decides to play in New York, he needs another superstar beside him. That’s what happened with Patrick. He had very good players in Charles Oakley and John Starks, but he didn’t have another superstar to play with him.”
The Knicks will reportedly go after Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, who's also set to become a free agent this summer. They are the only team in the league that can offer two max contracts right from the get-go — though they would have to decline the team options on some of their players.
Durant is highly regarded as the best player in the league right now, and if the Knicks succeed in signing him, there's definitely no doubt that they will be a contender in the East. However, pairing him with another superstar like Irving might just give them a legitimate shot at multiple championships.