Washington Wizards: Planning For Life Without Kevin Durant
By Ben Mehic
Washington Wizards: Planning For Life Without KD
The Washington Wizards have been planning to ask Kevin Durant out for quite some time. In fact, they’ve prepped for years. They bought several new outfits and even landed a pretty sweet gig in the NBA Playoffs.
This season, they lost that gig and the outfits they bought got stained.
Suddenly, the Wizards’ already-small chances of getting their guy seem even smaller.
Now, that doesn’t mean that they still won’t ask Durant out. They’ve prepped for way too long to chicken out now. In a few months, the Wizards are going to ask him out – and he’ll likely say “no, I already have a sweet companion.”
Most pundits expect Durant to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder. While the team hasn’t won an NBA championship with Russell Westbrook and Durant leading them, they will remain legitimate contenders as long as the two stars are in town.
Plus, leaving someone like Westbrook would be borderline crazy. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, as they say.
That won’t stop teams like the Wizards, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and virtually every other team in the league from pursuing the former MVP. All of them, though, have to prepare for a life without their guy, because he likely isn’t coming.
Just because the Washington Wizards probably won’t get their guy this summer, it doesn’t mean they have a bad environment.
John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Markieff Morris, Marcin Gortat and Kelly Oubre comprise one of the most intriguing cores in the Eastern Conference, which is the primary reason Scott Brooks, who was highly sought after, wanted to come to D.C.
Durant going to DC probably won't happen. Was always a small chance. But that doesn't mean it's a bad destination for him, or anyone, to go.
— Michael Sykes, II (@MikeDSykes) May 2, 2016
It doesn’t seem like it, but the Wizards would have been foolish not to plan for a life without Durant. Even though their chances of landing Durant increased after they signed Brooks, their chances are still incredibly low. I would say there’s at least an 85+% chance that he’s going to return to Oklahoma City.
Washington, according to owner Ted Leonsis, has planned for other things- just as they should have.
What are these plans? Well, I took some time to break down the #KD2DC alternatives:
Another max free agent
This is probably going to be the route that the Washington Wizards will consider. If they miss out on Durant, Ernie Grunfeld and his staff will likely plan to sit down with other free agents that will get the max contract.
We broke the individual players before. Guys like Hassan Whiteside, DeMar DeRozan, Nicolas Batum, Dwight Howard and Al Horford will all likely get the max contract this summer and will all be pursued by teams that miss out on Durant.
Durant is the only player available who’s going to instantly make the team who gets him a championship contender. The rest of the players all come with question marks.
Horford, for instance, is turning 30-years-old next month.
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Is an aging big man worth a long-term contract?
Whiteside is a game-changer, but his character and commitment to the game should make every general manager hesitant to give him such a reward.
It could be a move worthy of an extension or a firing.
Some managers, including Grunfeld, probably won’t be willing to take that risk.
Howard is past his prime and never truly recovered from that back injury from a few years ago.
DeRozan and Batum are All-Star quality players, but won’t help a team take that next step towards contention.
Pursuing another max-level free agent is certainly an option and it should be explored, but I’m not convinced it’s the best one out there.
The Washington Wizards could end up getting strapped with bad contracts if they take this route, especially when Bradley Beal gets his inevitable long-term deal. It’s a gamble.
Spread the love
Washington could also choose to spread the love – meaning, spread the wealth around for a deeper roster.
This isn’t an attractive nor flashy option, but it’s one that could help the Washington Wizards become a top team in the Eastern Conference pretty quickly.
Last season (and really, ever since Randy Wittman took over for Flip Saunders in 2012), the Wizards didn’t have a deep roster. After the starting five plus a couple of bench players, the Wizards didn’t have much to work with.
Every team competing for a championship has players that they could slot into their lineup and not worry about botching the system. The Golden State Warriors, for instance, are two to three deep at every position. These players aren’t the most well-known nor explosive, but they get the job done.
Grunfeld could opt to add depth to the roster instead of stardom, essentially.
Players like Kent Bazemore, Evan Fournier, Jeremy Lin, Festus Ezeli, Terrence Jones, Jeff Green, Arron Afflalo, Courtney Lee, Donatas Montiejunas, Joe Johnson, Mirza Teletovic and O.J. Mayo will all enter the free agent market.
Adding a couple of them to the second unit could make a legitimate difference and would take a ton of pressure off the starters – specifically John Wall.
Trading for a star
Once the NBA Playoffs are over, teams are going to look to make complete overhauls. Those that thought they could compete for an NBA championship for several years and failed to do so will look to make changes. That might include teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers, for instance. Other teams that expected their teams to improve, like the Sacramento Kings, might decide to rebuild again.
Recently, it was reported that the Kings might actually decide to move on from DeMarcus Cousins. John Wall made notice of the report and put it on his Twitter page. Some Washington Wizards fans would welcome this move (Wall certainly would), but others still aren’t sold on Cousins nor his personality.
This is a risk that the Wizards should absolutely be willing to take, even if it means they have to part ways with the likes of Bradley Beal and Otto Porter. Landing the best big man in the NBA isn’t an opportunity that comes around often.
Kevin Love and Blake Griffin could also be on the move if their respective teams decide to go in another direction, as it was reported in the past.
Love’s stock has probably fallen, but he’s still more than capable of being the second best player on a winning team. He would automatically become the best player Wall has ever played will.
Griffin is a perennial MVP candidate and the Wizards, like for Boogie, should be willing to part ways with anyone not named Wall.
Next: Wizards Should Let Beal Walk In Free Agency
Out of all the options, the Washington Wizards should pursue this one, just because it’s the most talent-heavy of the three options. If the Kevin Durant thing doesn’t go according to plan, the Wizards are still going to have plenty of room to add pieces to their roster that will help them win next season. While missing the playoffs was a disappointment, the real excitement will happen this summer.