With Kevin Durant‘s NBA Free Agency meeting schedule out for public consumption, we ponder if he’s scared of the New York Knicks.
It’s all over. There’s nothing left but the crying.While it’s not official, it seems as though mega NBA free agent Kevin Durant will not be scheduling a meeting with the great Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks. Moreover, many reports are surfacing that KD has his mind 90 percent made up about staying in Oklahoma City.
Now, OKC is relentlessly shopping Enes Kanter in effort to bring in big man Al Horford, via Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
This begs the question: Why was Durant so against the bright lights of New York City?
Forget actually playing here. Durant wouldn’t even schedule a meeting with a guy who can plop 13 NBA Championships on the table. He wouldn’t take Carmelo Anthony‘s advice about how great a basketball city the Big Apple is.
It simply doesn’t make a ton of sense.
While staying true to Oklahoma City makes plenty of sense – admirable, in fact – scheduling meetings with the likes of the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Clippers, without the Knicks on the slate, makes zero sense whatsoever.
Kristaps Porzingis is a member of the Knickerbockers.
This is a 20-year old freak of an athlete who stands 7’3” in the air. He’s tough down low and can run like a wild animal. KP had to be at least a little appealing to the 2013-14 NBA MVP.
The Knicks reside in the Eastern Conference. This means, if he had joined the Knicks, only LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers stand in Durant’s way of the NBA Finals.
What could the negatives have been?
Perhaps Durant doesn’t like the idea of playing with another ball dominant player in Melo. I mean, let’s be honest for a moment. There hasn’t been one star free agent who’s come to New York to play with Melo.
Anthony came to New York when Amar’e Stoudemire was the lone brave soul to take the trip and actually stay. Porzingis was drafted and newly acquired Derrick Rose was traded with Anthony already in tow.
Now that we’ve explored a little bit, “Does anybody want to play with Melo?”
To be fair, New York’s situation has never looked pretty until now. The organization was always in a jumble and the personnel always terrible.
Odds are, the Knicks franchise is still feeling the hangover from what were dark days. Superstar free agents will always fear that dreaded Knicks perception of losing until they actually witness success from afar in the win column.
Nonetheless, it doesn’t makes sense to not even schedule a meeting and see what they could bring to the table. It also doesn’t make sense another superstar wouldn’t team up with Melo when the recipe for success was finally so perfect.
Forget Kanter and Horford for a moment. The idea that Joakim Noah is all but signed and delivered to Jax for $18 million is the most obvious reason Durant isn’t coming. That move suggests Jackson has all but given up on the Durant idea.
It must be a mix of the Knicks dreaded perception hangover and the idea Durant doesn’t want to handle the New York City media. KD ranks right up there in the pool of professional athletes who doesn’t get along with the media.
Here are just some of the comments KD has made through the years:
“You guys really don’t know (expletive),” Durant told reporters in his final interview session before the 2016 NBA All-Star Game.
“To be honest, man, I’m only here talking to y’all because I have to,” Durant said continued to say while at the All-Star game. “So I really don’t care. Y’all not my friends. You’re going to write what you want to write. You’re going to love us one day and hate us the next. That’s a part of it. So I just learn how to deal with y’all.”
Then, the comment about the media’s treatment of Kobe Bryant:
Kevin Durant on the criticism of Kobe: "You guys treated one of our legends like sh** and I didn't really like it" pic.twitter.com/Nza1C0ey0E
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 30, 2015
Then there was, of course, his words following a tough loss in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals:
Kevin Durant gave a longer answer than "I'm not telling you". Don't be fooled #Thunder pic.twitter.com/C32v6syGIl
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 1, 2016
Could you imagine what would happen to this guy if he tried to pull this stuff in New York?
He’d be chewed up and spit out on a nightly basis.
In all honesty, we’ll never know why Durant never scheduled a meeting with the Knicks. We can ponder all day and night long, but in the end it’ll say with the man himself.
All we can do now is suggest the most obvious reasons.
