Kevin Durant signed with Brooklyn Nets who took his $164,255,700, 4-yr contract with the Warriors because New York Knicks didn’t.
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Some franchises have much more to offer to superstars than just max deals, which always makes them a preferable destination for big-name players. New York Knicks is one such franchise.
The Knicks aren’t as decorated ball club as the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers, in fact, 8 franchises have won more championships than them. They have appeared in the playoffs just 3 times in the last 10 years, two of which were at the start of the period we are talking about.
But still, they are one of the most talked-about teams for some or the other reason. Their geographical location might be one big reason why they have one of the best fan followings in the country.
Having one of the best players of arguably the toughest decade of the league (the 90s) helped them in that, but since Patrick Ewing retired, there hasn’t been a star of that stature who could get them where they should be. After a disappointing decade of the 2000s, Carmelo Anthony did give them a couple of decent seasons to start the 2010s but still, they couldn’t get past Conference Semi-finals in his prime years.
They had similar success with Julius Randle’s outburst in the 2020-21 season, but the time when rumour of Kevin Durant coming to New York was at its peak, might have been the best time for Knicks fans in a long time.
Knicks denied Kevin Durant a max contract but are willing to pay Jalen Brunson over $110 million in 4-years
Can you believe a team denying the Slim Reaper a max contract in 2019? Even though he would be out for a year because of the Achilles tear in the Finals with the Warriors, which would be his 3rd straight and last with them.
But that is what the Knicks did. Being the most desperate club, looking to get back into contention, should have been their priority, and they could have started to work on that before KD would return in 2020, even Kyrie Irving would have followed him there.
But as they declined that opportunity, their across-the-river rivals Brooklyn Nets took that opportunity. They couldn’t do much with it even after adding James Harden and forming a lethal offensive trio but still have at least another year with the duo and Ben Simmons instead of The Beard to have one more go at the Championship.
Meanwhile, the Knicks are making space to offer Jalen Brunson a max contract. And NBA Twitter cannot just handle it.
Also read: “Shaquille O’Neal, you are a billionaire bro”: Kevin Durant brings up Shaq’s net worth in response to him accepting his jealousy of Rudy Gobert earning $250 million
So you’re telling me that the Knicks didn’t want to give KD a max deal but now they’re willing to pay Jalen Brunson 😭 pic.twitter.com/ysYHxeDarh
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) June 29, 2022
Who knows if KD was with the Knicks, even Zion Williams would have joined him this season as well as he has publicly displayed his love for the franchise.
