Kevin Durant to decide on overseas future in October – NBA Update
October is the month when Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant will finally make up his mind over a move abroad to play basketball. The forward said so while talking to media after a charity event in which Stephen Jackson of the
Milwaukee Bucks and Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics also participated.
Durant is the next big thing in NBA. The player has won the last two NBA scoring titles and led his side to the Western Conference Finals in the post season last time out. If he decides to make pack his bags and head over the Atlantic,
it will be the biggest move of an NBA star after Deron Williams’s decision to join Turkish club Besiktas earlier.
Durant however isn’t ready to commit one way or the other. The player has earlier stated that he could give it a go elsewhere. He however wants to give NBA a chance and said he would wait as long as he can before making a decision,
hoping that the NBA labour dispute will be resolved.
“Once we really know the season is not going to start at regular time, that’s when you make the decision,” he said. “I guess when October hits, it’s really going to get real for me. I don’t want to do it too early and be locked
into something, knowing we’re going to play. I’m going to keep my options open.”
It’s a sensible approach from the player who has been keeping busy since the lockout began on July 1st. Durant was part of an elite NBA stars team that went over to the Philippines to play two exhibition games. He has
since been playing all over the United States, the highlight coming in Rucker Park where Durant dropped 66 points to the joy of the New York crown.
However the warning from the player is clear, the NBA should not expect him to stick around and continue playing for fun. The league and the National Basketball Players Association need to come to a quick resolution regarding the
CBA.
The differences between the two sides are vast and various people have now started speculating that there won’t indeed be an NBA season 2011-2012, especially since David Stern decided to file a law suit against the players union
in a federal court.
If things do not improve soon, more and more NBA players will seriously start to look for work abroad. Durant is not the first one to issue such a warning; super star players like Kobe Bryant, Rajon Rondo and Amar’e Stoudemire
have all declared they are open to playing in Europe or in China.
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