The NBA free agency market in 2016 is rife with speculations regarding the potential transfers and trade involving top players in the sport. While LeBron James is also included in the list of free agency players up for grabs in the next year, the NBA teams have yet to make an offer that would lure the athlete away from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Another player though is making waves in the trading block and he is none other than Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma Thunder.
Speaking with CBS Sports, Durant slammed the rumors linking him to a number of NBA teams such as the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets. The Thunder star pointed out that amidst all these speculations, not one of the spectators bothered to ask whether or not the sources are as reliable as they claim to be.
"Uh, just, I think we should...you know what? I'm not even going to answer that," said Kevin Durant in the interview, referring to the question on the media and social media coverage done in terms of his potential transfer out of the Oklahoma Thunder and into another NBA team. He then expounded his response and stated, "I'm not gonna answer that one. Along with Matty Ice [Thunder PR man Matt Tumbleson], I've got two people that I trust with my life, my agent and my manager, who's my best friend as well. I trust them with my life. So if you hear sources or anything, don't believe it if it didn't come from them. I tell them everything."
Durant went on to say, "We bounce ideas off each other. We collaborate on a lot of different things. They give me advice. so throughout this year, if you hear sources from anybody, it's not true, unless you hear it from Charlie Bell, Rich Kleiman or Durant."
With no official news or confirmation from Durant himself or any of his representatives has been made regarding the NBA star's plans to either stay or get out of the Thunder locker room, the rumor mill has been quite busy in churning out potential teams for Durant's alleged transfer. At the moment, the most prominent team in the mix in terms of feasibility in signing Durant is the Rockets.
One of the rumored strong points of the Rockets is the presence of James Harden in the NBA team's roster. Widely known to be a close buddy of the highly sought after Durant, fans of the Houston Rockets believe that Harden could play a major role in convincing the Thunder star into signing with the Texas team. While this could be a strong possibility for Durant, a hindrance remains necessary to overcome: cap space.
As with the issue concerning the Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson, the Rockets may also encounter the same roadblock in terms of cap space if the team truly intend to pursue Durant. According to Fan Sided, the Houston Rockets will need to free up some contracts and release other NBA stars in free agency for the team to be eligible in the Durant campaign. Based on the report, the Rockets might opt to waive Ty Lawson by making the final year of his contract with the team unguaranteed. Should Lawson become a free agent, the Rockets will be looking at roughly $13.2 million added to their books - an amount that the team could use in its Durant fund.
