This news may only be important to the truly NBA-obsessive, but for those who haven’t heard, Kevin Durant has left the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors. From Durant’s standpoint, the reasons are obvious. He believes that he has gone as far as he could with the Thunder and sees the Warriors as his best option to add an NBA championship to his already stellar resume. The deal is decidedly short-term—a two-year max contract with a player option in the second year—but it has already had a major impact for the Warriors’ future due to the personnel moves necessary to accommodate Durant’s contract. Center Andrew Bogut has been traded to Dallas, and Festus Ezeli and Harrison Barnes will soon follow Bogut out the door as free agents. It will be interesting to see how the Warriors coaching staff adjusts to the changes, particularly in terms of replacing the rim protection and interior scoring that Bogut offered. It is also likely that the Warriors will not have quite the fabulously deep bench that inspired the Strength In Numbers motto. I would tend to think, though, that the Warriors staff knows what it’s doing, especially with Jerry West having helped close the deal. We may not see the Warriors go 73-9 again in 2016/17, but, as I said last year, their rivalry with LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers is nowhere near over yet.
– Chuck Strom
