The Golden State Warriors are currently the best team in the NBA and there really isn't any room to debate that. The team is young, talented and extremely exciting to watch, not to mention they are coming off a championship season. Kevin Durant is entering free agency this offseason and you would think the Warriors wouldn't be involved in courting him but that is apparently not true. If Durant does decide to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Warriors are "significant frontrunners" to sign the forward, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
It is important to note that Durant is not currently thinking about free agency and it is nowhere near a lock that he leaves the Thunder. Oklahoma City remains the favorite to keep the 27-year-old superstar but he is all about being an immediate championship contender no matter where he ends up and the best place to possibly do that will likely be with the Warriors.
The way the Warriors roster is setup and the way they have been playing would make you think that they don't need Durant, which is likely true, or that he could cause problems. Draymond Green though, is reportedly an avid supporter of the idea of bringing Durant to Golden State and he is expected to be "a tenacious recruiter of Durant for the Warriors contingent."
Another question that comes into play with this report is how the Warriors would possibly be able to fit Durant's salary under the cap assuming he takes a max deal. Bobby Marks of The Vertical lays out the steps the Warriors could take to sign Durant and although there are a lot of them, they are realistic. The Warriors would obviously have to lose something if they were to bring in Durant but having him in the fold would likely make up for the losses. The steps include trading Andre Iguodala, using the stretch provision on Andrew Bogut and letting Harrison Barnes walk among other things. Those are three things the Warriors wouldn't mind doing if they were able to bring in another top five player to their team.
This is still a long way away from now but as it gets closer it seems more and more realistic that the best team in the NBA could add the premiere free agent this offseason which is basically unprecedented. Durant wants to win more than anything and joining a team that has Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Green would certainly give him that opportunity. As mentioned before, the Thunder still remain the favorites for Durant this offseason but with the Warriors having a realistic shot at him you can't count them and their championship level team out. This should only get more exciting as the summer gets closer.
