Kevin Durant on Knicks: 'We'll see'

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Adam Zagoria


 4:26PM
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Kevin Durant hasn't made any plans to meet with the Knicks.

"We'll see after I leave here," Durant said on Monday at an event announcing Team USA in New York City.

Durant said he didn't want to talk about free agency on Monday, but did take time to compliment the Knicks for their big addition of Derrick Rose to the lineup of Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.

"Derrick Rose is a great player, MVP of this league," Durant said. "Someone that we all respect in this league so I'm sure he's excited about this new chapter in his life. So we're excited to see him go there and we'll see how it goes. Obviously, they have a good team now with D-Rose and Melo and Porzingis, so I will talk to my team and we will figure things out."

Durant will reportedly meet with the Thunder, Spurs, Warriors, Celtics, Heat and Clippers, according to ESPN and The Vertical, but declined to give a list of prospective meetings.

"No, I can't," he said. "I'm not taking about it right now. This is USA Basketball and I don't want to take my focus off of that."

Asked what would factor into his decision, he said: "I'll factor in everything that's important to me. Playing basketball is important to me and we'll see what happens."

The effort to recruit Durant to New York has begun, Anthony told ESPN earlier on Monday.

"We've been together," Anthony said. "We've been talking."

But Anthony said he won't pressure his buddy.

"At this point in time we're friends, we hang out," Anthony said. "It's magnified now because he's a free agent and we're in New York. But last year nobody was talking about us hanging out, going to work out or going to dinner or things like that. So yeah, those conversations do come up but it's not something that I'm constantly on him, throwing at him, because I was in that situation before. And it s a lot of things that's going through his mind. There was a lot of things that was going though my mind."
Anthony declined to say whether the Knicks had a legitimate shot at Durant, suggesting he will pick the team with the best chance to win. That could bode well for the Warriors, who may opt to re-load with Durant after losing to the Cavaliers in seven games in the NBA Finals after blowing a 3-1 lead.

"I don't like to speak on if we have a legit shot," Anthony said. "I've spoken on that before and things didn't go our way. I think everybody's on the same playing field right now. Whatever situation he feels he can win right away, I think he'll make that decision. It's a basketball decision. For him, it's basketball."

Rose said on Friday that he would probably recruit other free agents to the Knicks beginning July 1, and said he had already been in touch with former Bulls teammate Joakim Noah.

Anthony said he will also help recruit but declined to name names.

"There's certain guys that are on the list," he said with a smile. "I don't want to get into too much details about that, but I feel like we have a great shot at acquiring free agents this summer. It's going to take work because all of the teams are in the same situation, the same boat, but like I said, the Derrick Rose piece was a great first step."

Kevin Durant hasn't made any plans to meet with the Knicks.

So I guess Tommy Dee was completely lying when he said Durant had informed Knicks officials he'd meet with them.

crzymdups wrote:

"I don't like to speak on if we have a legit shot," Anthony said. "I've spoken on that before and things didn't go our way. I think everybody's on the same playing field right now. Whatever situation he feels he can win right away, I think he'll make that decision. It's a basketball decision. For him, it's basketball."
Rose said on Friday that he would probably recruit other free agents to the Knicks beginning July 1, and said he had already been in touch with former Bulls teammate Joakim Noah.

Anthony said he will also help recruit but declined to name names.

"There's certain guys that are on the list," he said with a smile. "I don't want to get into too much details about that, but I feel like we have a great shot at acquiring free agents this summer. It's going to take work because all of the teams are in the same situation, the same boat, but like I said, the Derrick Rose piece was a great first step."

Melo sounds realistic about the chances at least.

I do think they can get some good pieces, I'm just thinking Durant is not possible and doesn't make basketball sense.