Did the NBA just Change Overnight?

By: John McCormack

Last nights Game 5 was a thriller, and an overall great game to watch.  However, the game was shadowed by a gruesome injury that occurred to Warriors forward Kevin Durant.  If you didn’t see the injury, here it is.

A closer look at Kevin Durant's right leg injury: pic.twitter.com/XEHPIn9wnW

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 11, 2019

If you look closely at Durant’s right calf, you can see it convulse and he went down immediately.  Right after it happened, everyone on Twitter became a doctor and diagnosed Durant with a ruptured Achilles.  Which for an NBA player or anyone actually, it means he’s going to be out for a least a year.

So, where does this leave the NBA free agency that comes in a couple of weeks?  First and for most, I want to wish Durant a speedy recovery, and I hope he can return to the dominate player that he is.  But I can’t stop thinking about how much this is going to affect free agency.

You couldn’t turn the TV on without hearing Durant to the Knicks, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, you name it, but he was THE free agent this summer.  The NBA had three superstar free agents this summer: Durant, Kawhi, and Kyrie.  It was assumed that Durant was going to join one of those two to create the next “super team.”  But now that he’s hurt and most likely done for next year, what does this mean for everyone else?

Take the Risk and Sign him

Taking the risk, now, and signing Durant to a max contract is still the right thing to do.  Durant is a generational talent and a top five player of all time, of course you sign him for max money regardless of this injury.  Durant is going to recover and his training staff will make sure he recovers fully.  This injury isn’t good at all, but it’s worse for other teams not named the Warriors.  Durant has a player option for next year at $31 million with the Warriors and with this injury it seems like this is going to be the right thing to do.  Take the money, heal up, and finish your career with the Warriors.

But let’s say he doesn’t take his player option and decides to opt out.  Teams might be afraid to sign him and wait a full season until he is ready to go again, but to hell with that IT’S KEVIN DURANT.  I don’t care if he is going to sit out a year, he’s still dominate and will still be the franchise player wherever he signs.  The only team out of that list who shouldn’t sign Durant is the Lakers because they need to win now.  Other than them, the Knicks, Nets, and Clippers should welcome Durant with open arms and embrace this year long recovery.

What’s this mean for Kyrie and the Celtics?

It was assumed that Durant and Kyrie were going to join forces in New York, but this might not be happening just yet.  Kyrie is a weird guy, pretty simple.  He wants to leave a young team that he caused issues for all season to join an equally of a young team next year.  Kyrie was going to sign with the Knicks or Nets and then pursued Durant to follow.  So with Durant out, does Kyrie finally buy into this Celtics situation and embrace the city enough to resign long term?

Like I said earlier, Kyrie is a weird dude.  I feel like no one knows what this guy wants.  But if Kyrie sees this Durant situation isn’t going to work out because of the injury.  Then maybe he resigns and the Celtics trade and sign Anthony Davis.

The NBA is in a weird position with free agency and this Durant injury can change the NBA for years to come.  With him being out, players might stay and resign with their current teams or not go to a certain team because Durant won’t be able to join them.  It’s going to be really exciting, and I am curious as to where he goes.

John McCormack (Uncle_Mac4)