It happens every year in the NBA. Player A is hitting free agency in the summer, creating intense speculation about where he could sign. Player B is coming into a contract year, which teams could trade for the superstar?
Every sport has trade rumors and free agent speculation, but no other sport does it like the NBA. The NBA is like high school in that sense: someone tells someone in the hallway that Person A likes Person B and before you know it, everyone in the school is buzzing about what could happen. The NBA world is not so far off from that: Columnist A writes a small opinion piece about Player A signing with his local team, suddenly the entire world thinks that the team will grab that free agent over the summer.
It happened with LeBron James when he was in Cleveland and Miami, and now it's happening with Kevin Durant. This is not something new for Durant, as there has been intense speculation about where he could sign as a free agent for a couple years, but things have started to get out of control during the 2015-16 season. Reports have come out almost weekly about "sources" saying that Durant will consider signing with different teams over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Washington Wizards will bring Durant home; the Warriors will build a super team with Durant in the Bay Area; the Rockets will sign Durant and have him play with Dwight Howard; the Lakers will get Durant and Russell Westbrook in a package deal; Carmelo Anthony will convince Durant to sign with the Knicks; and on and on. Now to be honest, all of those outcomes could be possibilities for Durant once he hits free agency, but are they realistic? Mostly no. Will they happen during the season? No, because the Thunder will not trade Durant. So why is it that in the NBA speculation runs so rampant?
Partially yes, it's fun to imagine superstars changing teams and moving in trade deals and signing new contracts, but what is the consequence of this? The Big Lead just wrote a lengthy article about CBS Sports and how they are changing things regarding their focus when it comes to sports news.
A headline saying Durant will leave the Thunder for the Lakers is much more exciting than: "Durant to play out season, consider options in the summer." Let's be honest, every team in the league would love to get Kevin Durant and there is no question about it, but should he have to deal with the constant barrage of media attention when a decision isn't coming for months?
Everyone wants to know what Durant will do and whether he will stay with the Thunder or not, but the speculation this year has gotten out of control and likely will not stop anytime soon.