Getty Image / Mike Ehrmann / Staff
The lowly New York Knicks seriously thought they had a chance at signing free agent megastar Kevin Durant. The suits of the Knicks were so optimistic that they could sign Durant and another max contract that they shipped out the franchise’s cornerstone young phenom Kristaps Porzingis.
That backfired. Majorly. The Knicks struck out on Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and Kemba Walker, they were forced to settle for Julius Randle. A new report says that the Knicks were right to believe Durant would sign with New York because the former Warriors star “strongly considered” making MSG his new home.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that the Knicks had a fighters chance to sign Kevin Durant. According to sources: “Although Durant did strongly consider the Knicks, according to sources close to the situation, he never pushed them the way Irving pushed Brooklyn.” This is just more torture for Knicks fans who have been tortured for the last two decades.
What sources is this coming from? Knicks’ president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry? Mills and Perry wanted to sign Durant desperately despite his injury that would take a year to recover from. Knicks owner James Dolan was more leery on taking on the damaged, but potentially franchise-altering player.
In October, Durant told his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Serge Ibaka that the Knicks were an interesting destination, but they were flawed. “The Knicks players, they’re good, young players, but they still need more experience to match where I was in my career,” Durant told Ibaka. “It was nothing major against the Knicks. I just think Brooklyn is further along in the process of being a contender.”
Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets along with Kyrie Irving, but he has yet to play a game for Brooklyn due to his Achilles tendon rupture that he suffered in the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
The Knicks signed Randle and several role players with all of their free agent money. Those investments have provided the Knicks with the worst record in the NBA.
The Knicks have a 4-20 record, even worse than the injury-ravaged Golden State Warriors. The Knicks could have had the same record by signing Durant, having him sit a year, have a league-worst record, and snag another high draft pick next summer.
Carmelo Anthony said that Durant avoided playing in New York because he didn’t want to deal with the pressure.
“I don’t think it surprised me (that Durant and Irving didn’t want to play for the Knicks). We all read Durant’s quotes. We know what he said,” Anthony told the Daily News this week.
“Whether you agree with him or not, that just goes to show you people have different perspectives about it. It’s not always — ‘Oh, that’s the Knicks and we’re going to get somebody, it’s a guarantee.’ Nowadays players are not thinking about that,” said Anthony, who is now playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. “Players want to be able to go to a situation where they can enjoy it, have fun and not have to deal with that.”
“I wanted it. It was something I wanted. I wanted to take that challenge on,” Anthony boasted. “Whether I failed at it or not I wanted to be able to say that I did it,” Anthony said in a candid interview Sunday night. “I took it upon myself to say, ‘Get me there.’ I wanted that challenge. Not everybody has that same mentality.”
Carmelo Anthony might regret accepting that monumental challenge of trying to make the Knicks into winners.
[Yahoo]