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Report: Lakers Leading the Charge for Durant in 2016

By Paul Bressler

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Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant would prefer to stay right where he is, but the Los Angeles Lakers are at the top of Durant’s list should he decide to leave via free agency in 2016, according to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

"Regardless of how senseless it may (sound), in one breath I’m hearing that if Kevin Durant doesn’t stay in Oklahoma City, L.A. is his primary objective and landing spot as opposed to South Beach or even his home of Washington, D.C.I heard Melo, Kevin Durant, Kobe. And when you take into account that Phil Jackson is on the record saying it might be Kobe’s last year in L.A. — opening the door that there are possibilities for him to go elsewhere. All I’m saying is you just never know."

Smith abruptly revealed the latest chatter surrounding Durant and his looming free agency during an episode of ESPN’s First Take in which Smith was discussing Kobe Bryant‘s future with the Lakers.

This wouldn’t be the first time Smith used an episode of First Take to disclose information of this magnitude. He unleashed the idea of Durant forming a Big Three with Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in New York just three weeks ago.

It’s tough to say how much stock can be put into a report like this considering the ever-changing state of the NBA, but the intel brings to light a new proposition for Lakers fans.

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The Thunder were once the team on the rise but have been lost in the shuffle since the 2012 NBA Finals in which LeBron James and the Miami Heat decisively defeated the Thunder 4-1.

Many believed the Thunder over achieved by reaching the Finals so soon but were expected to return and become a force for years to come. That didn’t happen.

Sure they won a lot of regular season games the next two years, but the Thunder came up short when the playoffs rolled around. Despite Russell Westbrook‘s triple-double tear, the Thunder missed the playoffs last year after Durant missed 55 games with a right foot injury that required three surgeries.

The Thunder have since become just another team in a crowded Western Conference, and their youth doesn’t scare anyone anymore. Anything short of a NBA Finals berth could prove disastrous for the Thunder’s chances of keeping Durant beyond this season.

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