The Golden Opportunity

A Golden Opportunity

By: Evan Brooks

       With the salary cap exploding this year in the NBA, many teams have been making their pitches to the free agent class of 2016. This free agent class included very impactful players with the likes of Mike Conley Jr, Dwight Howard, and Hassan Whiteside, but the biggest fish in the market is free agent Kevin Durant. The seven time all-star and 2014 league MVP has the world in the palm of his hand for any new destination he desires. He had already made it clear that he wants to sign with a team for one reason, to win. Durant’s list of teams he planned to meet with included the San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heart, Los Angeles Clippers, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, and his current team the Oklahoma City Thunder.

              After a long awaited decision and weighing his options on July 4th 2016 The 6-9 small foward decided to leave his Oklahoma City Thunder and sign with the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. This decision came as a surprise to many people as most expected Durant to stay in OKC and continue to pursue his goal of a NBA championship. Durant signed a 2 year 54.3 million dollar contract. Durant joins a Warriors team that already has 2-time league MVP Stephen Curry as well as Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala. This past season the Warriors also broke the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls regular season record of 72-10. The Warriors eclipsed this record by one game finishing the regular season 73-9.

              Durant made his decision via the Players Tribune to announce his decision. Since the start of free agency the Warriors have made it known that they would be aggressive and they were. Signing the 7 time all-star is about as much aggression as one could have. Improving on a 73-9 season is very difficult to near impossible and it’s amazing that this team has just improved itself immensely. All the pressure is on to figure out to use this collection of talent in hopes to recapture the NBA title that they achieved in 2015. Signing Durant has now given the Golden State Warriors a 5/7 odds to win this year’s upcoming title. Whether you like it or not, what’s done is done. Now the Warriors are out to not only capture their third title in franchise history, but multiple championships and be considered once again one of the greatest teams in NBA history.