Kevin Durant is already with the Brooklyn Nets but one of the most talked about topics in the NBA to this point is his decision to spurn the New York Knicks.
For almost an entire year, the Knicks have appeared to be the frontrunners to sign Durant, but things started to fall apart especially when the two-time Finals MVP ruptured his Achilles during the NBA Finals. According to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, KD's injury, along with Kyrie Irving's infamous beef with the Boston Celtics, created some concerns within the Knicks organization, and their hesitations led to the team missing out on both.
It all starts with Durant rupturing his right Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and Kyrie Irving pole-axing his reputation as a leader with the Boston Celtics. Prior to all that, multiple league sources had the Knicks in prime position to be Durant's next landing spot. They were on good terms with his business manager, Rich Kleiman, who also happened to be a longtime Knicks fan with a self-ascribed desire to one day be part of the organization. They had his close friend and former teammate, Royal Ivey, as an assistant coach and had also acquired another one of his BFFs, DeAndre Jordan, from the Dallas Mavericks last season. Few people in the NBA had been tracking Durant longer than Scott Perry, an assistant GM with the Seattle SuperSonics when they drafted Durant and now the Knicks GM. And they created salary-cap space not only to sign Durant but also Irving, with whom they knew Durant had interest in playing.
The Knicks already knew that Durant won't be playing next season in order to fully recover from his injury. But they could've still gotten him and Irving. However, the idea of seeing Kyrie leading a bunch of young guys didn't give the team executives comfort, especially because of the All-Star guard's infamous fallout with the Boston Celtics.
The prospect of having the Knicks' young ensemble of talent—Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox and No. 3 pick RJ Barrett—led for a year by Irving, whose condescending attitude had just alienated a similar corps of young talent in Boston, gave management pause.
It's funny how one small sign of reluctance cost the Knicks the chance of building a superteam in New York. Everything went according to their plan last season. They have freed enough cap space to sign two top-tier free agents to max contracts, they have one of KD's best friends in DeAndre Jordan, and they had the assets to trade for another third superstar.
They envisioned signing both Durant and Irving and potentially trading for Anthony Davis. Unfortunately, none of these players ended up in their team.
The Knicks' unwillingness to take risks haunted them in the end.
