Report: Durant to leave OKC if Thunder don't reach NBA Finals
It may take an extremely deep playoff run from the Oklahoma City Thunder for four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant to remain with the franchise for at least one more season.
During an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Monday, Joel Meyers, the voice of the New Orleans Pelicans, discussed the possibility of Durant leaving the Thunder when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.
"I made some calls over the weekend. If they don't, I'm told if they don't at least get to the NBA Finals, Durant's gone," Meyers said, as transcribed by the Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry. "Simple as that."
The reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors have previously been reported as "significant front-runners" to acquire Durant, however, the chances of the seven-time All-Star aligning with Stephen Curry aren't as strong as some may believe, according to Meyers' sources.
"So everybody's talking about Golden State. There may be other teams coming into the equation for Kevin Durant," Meyers said. "He's the principle. He's going to be the guy. So from what I've been told, it may not be Golden State after all.
"Everybody thought it was, like, 'Well, maybe he can slide in there, and they won't match whoever makes an offer to Harrison Barnes. So it frees up that cap space that they would have given to Harrison Barnes.' But the calls I took, and some of the people I talked to over the weekend being in the building, it's not such a deadlock."
The Thunder have struggled to put wins on the board since returning from the All-Star break, going 3-6 since Feb. 19 - including losses to the Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers where OKC led entering the fourth quarter.
Even with their recent shortcomings, the Thunder (43-20) remain locked in as the third seed, with a two-game lead over the Clippers.
Durant is currently ranked third in the NBA in scoring at 28.1 points per game, shooting 50.7 from the field and 39.1 percent from 3-point range.