Warriors would monopolize West with addition of Durant

Every franchise in the NBA is interested in signing free agent Kevin Durant this summer. The Golden State Warriors are no exception in that regard.

Related: Warriors ready to go hard in pursuit of Durant

What sets the Warriors apart is that they can offer what other teams cannot - they can virtually guarantee Durant a return to the Finals.

Durant stressed that his free agency approach would strictly focus on basketball, and if he's focused on winning, there's no better destination than a club fresh off a 73-win season. Adding Durant would give the Warriors four All-NBA players in their prime - a collection unheard of since the days when Magic's Lakers dueled Bird's Celtics.

Only, the Warriors would have no rival - at least not in the West.

For all the talk of Golden State's humiliating collapse, it is perhaps forgotten that the score was tied with less than a minute left in Game 7 of the Finals.

The slimmest of margins could have pushed them over the top for their second-straight title - margins like Harrison Barnes' atrocious 3-of-10 shooting display. Eight of his shots were deemed "uncontested" by NBA Stats, of which Barnes hit two.

How would Durant have fared if given those looks?

That's an oversimplification of Durant's fit, but makes for a visual. If the Warriors dominated the league to the tune of 115 points per game with the inconsistent Barnes, what damage could they deal with Durant?

The lesson that the Warriors learned this season is that nothing is inevitable, and counting out LeBron James is foolhardy. But save for The King, who else could stop the Warriors?

Certainly not anyone in the West. The only team that put a scare into the Warriors were the Oklahoma City Thunder. But if Durant - the best player on the floor during the West Finals - swapped jerseys, it would have been no contest.

The Spurs always loom as a threat. But they've suffered early exits in each of the last two seasons and their core is aging rapidly. Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Gregg Popovich is a lethal trio, but the Warriors with Durant still figure to be heavy favorites.

There isn't much past that. The Warriors have utterly crushed the psyche of the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Portland Trail Blazers are still a few pieces away. The Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets face a summer of flux, and the Memphis Grizzlies were swept by a combined 88 points by the Warriors this season.

The West has been a nightmare for nearly a decade. But the Warriors with Durant would make the gauntlet look like a cakewalk.

The only downside to adding Durant would be a downgrade in depth. The Warriors pride themselves on "Strength In Numbers" but they would need to shed some pieces to add a max player.

The Warriors currently have $71 million in guaranteed salary for the 2015-16 season, which affords them $23 million to chase Durant who can earn as much as $26 million next season.

But in order to hit that mark, the Warriors would need to release Shaun Livingston, then renounce rights to free agents Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Marreese Speights, Leandro Barbosa, Brandon Rush, Ian Clark, and James Michael McAdoo.

The alternative would be to move the oft-injured Andrew Bogut's $11-million deal. But that brings another set of questions. What would it take to move Bogut's salary? Who would play center if Bogut and Ezeli are both gone? There's no easy answer.

The Warriors would hope to add veterans on a discount. If the Spurs can get David West to ditch $11 million, and if the Cavaliers can snag Richard Jefferson for the minimum, there will be someone to fill the void for the Warriors. There will always be ring chasers.

But ultimately, losing some peripheral pieces is a small price to pay for one of the best players in the world, and it's a trade-off the Warriors would be thrilled to make.

The biggest concern for fans and the NBA alike: Would the league become boring if it gets so top-heavy?

The Warriors would roll through the West, and LeBron James has represented the East in the Finals six-straight times. If both conferences are foregone conclusions, would the regular season hold any meaning?

Moreover, would the first three rounds of the playoff even drum up any interest? The world would just be waiting for a third installment of Warriors vs. Cavs.

Granted, none of that is really of any concern to the Warriors. They've earned these opportunities through shrewd roster construction and they're free to reap the rewards of a potential dynasty.

But without any credible resistance, what meaning would that dynasty hold?