Report: Clippers will try to sell Durant on forming 'Big 4'
Sure, Kevin Durant could join a proven title-contending Big Three on the Golden State Warriors, but why do that when he could form a Big Four in L.A.?
That's the question the Los Angeles Clippers plan to ask when they meet with the free-agent superstar Friday, sources told Ramona Shelburne and Arash Markazi of ESPN.
Los Angeles will reportedly try to convince the 6-foot-9 forward to join so he can play alongside its current Big Three of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. This, despite the prevailing assumption the Clippers would have to trade one of those players in order to get under the salary cap so they can sign Durant.
Los Angeles owes its star trio about $68 million combined in 2016-17, when Durant's projected to fetch a max deal worth about $26 million next season.
The cap for the upcoming campaign is set at a reported $94 million, and the Clippers could make it work by trading J.J. Redick and renouncing the rights to all their free agents (Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers, and Jeff Green). They could also give up first-round pick Brice Johnson's rights and look to ship out C.J. Wilcox and Paul Pierce to free up even more cap space.
If Doc Rivers and Co. cannot convince the former league MVP to sign with the club this summer and he instead elects to ink a one-year deal elsewhere, the Clippers will reportedly attempt to plant a seed in his mind so that he joins them the following year, when the cap is expected to rise further.
While the members of Lob City's triumvirate have been invited to the meeting, ESPN's sources have yet to confirm their attendance.