Warriors hope for rotation player at No. 30

Teams will be able to meet with Durant at 12:01 a.m. ET Thursday night and ESPN’s Marc Stein reports he’ll meet with the Thunder’s two chief rivals at the onset of free agency. He has already scheduled meetings with a couple of organizations, but which team will Durant most likely be with at the start of the season? The Warriors face interesting restricted free agent decisions on both Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli during the summer, and Golden State has famously been linked to a pursuit of Kevin Durant. The Knicks, along with the Wizards, Nuggets, Lakers and Rockets, “appear to be outsiders in the process now”, Wojnarowski writes, because he says Durant wants to play for a team that can immediately compete for a title.

Durant has a publicity tour in the Far East scheduled to begin on July 9 and his decision is expected before he leaves, the report said.

While Durant is the team’s No. 1 priority on the free agent market, the Celtics will quickly pivot their attentions to other highly-regarded players as well with Atlanta’s Al Horford being among their targets.

Sources told ESPN that Durant is by no means Golden State’s lone target in free agency but stressed that he’ll indeed be the Warriors’ top target when the offseason marketplace opens July 1. Simply, Durant could make one of the best teams ever, even better.

According to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Durant and his agent at Roc Nation “are working to solidify invitations” for meetings with the Heat, Celtics, Warriors, Clippers, Spurs and Thunder.

The four-time scoring champion, Durant, averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game this past season for the Thunder.

The collapse in the biggest stage of basketball might be the reason why the Dubs are aiming to improve their roster drastically by signing Durant.

While small-ball reigned during their 2015 championship run, numerous teams, including the 2016 champions Cleveland Cavaliers, have disintegrated the Warriors’ once-successful strategy.

It remains to be seen whether Durant will decide to leave Oklahoma City.