Rising salary cap 'makes everything wide open' for Durant's free agency
Those looking for immediate answers regarding Kevin Durant's looming free agency will have to sit tight for now.
This summer's hottest commodity will undoubtedly be courted by a host of suitors across the league. With rumors of possible landing spots already swirling, the 27-year-old superstar has the enviable task of deciding to point almost anywhere on a map of North American cities.
Or, after much fanfare, he might decide to stay put in Oklahoma City.
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One thing is for sure, however: The new fiscal landscape that will shape an offseason of ambitious spending by most teams is going to make things interesting for Durant and his free-agent contemporaries.
With the NBA salary cap set to increase from $70 to roughly $92 million ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, clubs will have some extra pocket money - an event Durant recognizes as a potential game-changer.
"You could just look it as a positive thing, that our game is growing and you can be able to do whatever you want as an owner, a (general manager) as a player, and ultimately that's what you want: to make a decision on your own and to make a decision that makes you happy," he told USA Today's Sam Amick.
"That makes everything just wide open at this point."
Long understood to be a more subtle and understated personality than many of the league's other marquee stars who seek the limelight, Durant reiterated that he's not looking for any red carpets nor parades in his name.
"I'm really not a guy for all the attention, and I know the attention is on me and the spotlight is on me as far as what's going to happen and what the future holds," he said.
Although the seven-time All-Star knows all eyes will be on him come July, he said he's still grounded in the present.
"I knew it was coming, you know? I wouldn't be who I was if I didn't know this stuff was coming, so it's just a part of it, man. I just try to stay around people who really just care about me as a man, and as a basketball player, (people) who want me happy and my friends that I love every single day."