Odds of Durant Leaving Warriors for Lakers Continue Getting Better

• Kevin Durant’s odds of joining LeBron and the Lakers are growing shorter
• Can Kevin Durant leave a three-peat?
• Has the years-long championship run worn out the Warriors?

It’s already caused a pretty big spat for the entire basketball world to see, and Kevin Durant’s potential departure from the Warriors – after a still-likely three-peat, no less – is a fire that is already burning strong.

The latest odds have the Los Angeles Lakers firmly ahead of LA’s other team, the Clippers, as the favorite to land Durant this offseason.

Odds Kevin Durant Signs with the Lakers

Just like it did three summers ago when he bolted OKC and inked in the Bay Area, Durant – considered in every NBA circle to be one of the three best current players right now, and one of the all-time greats when he eventually hangs them up – will swing the balance of power to whatever team he eventually decides to commit to.

This latest era of player empowerment and freedom is going to create a historic situation, if the Dubs do complete the vaunted three-peat this season: it will mark the first time a star player (and potentially the three-time Finals MVP) will freely choose to leave his championship team for another.

If you think that hasn’t rattled the cages within the GState organization, then you may have missed the Draymond Green – Durant drama on display earlier this year.

Here is the full KD-Draymond exchange. It's 3 minutes of KD being passively aggressively angry and Draymond just yelling non-stop.

In other words, it sums both up perfectly. https://t.co/EQdWrdqKwzhttps://t.co/3ApZ3pqiPs

— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) November 13, 2018

Enter the Lakers, who can keep Durant in the state of California, offer him a win-now roster, and supply him with ample star power to allow him to do what he does best: dominate the hell out of basketball games as a scoring machine. It’s why the odds have dropped from +300 as recently as November 17th.

For the Lakers, Kevin Durant is also the perfect superstar to pair with LeBron James. What would be even better than finding a Robin for LeBron’s Batman? How about Superman joining Batman to form the ultimate dynamic duo?https://t.co/gmZmJrGdiU

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) December 12, 2018

It also helps that LeBron James has transformed the Lakers into winners, with nary a complimentary All-Star on the roster.

But Durant’s recent interview with Bleacher Report shows that, even in sunny California, Durant would feel the chill in LeBron’s shadow.

Kevin Durant on why stars don’t want to team up with LeBron
https://t.co/VdUSeHPr9G pic.twitter.com/GWsATn5iao

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 5, 2018

As you might expect,those comments were met with scrutiny. The Internet, it’s ruthless.

Is it just me or do all these comments coming from Kevin Durant about Lebron seem like jealousy ? He wants to me viewed like lebron so bad … once you went to golden state that went out the window . #NBATwitter #nba #NBABreakdown #lakers #Warriors #nbanaespn

— NBAtruth00 (@atruth00) December 12, 2018

We’ve come to know that Durant has been a little surly at how his last decision has been perceived by just about everyone outside of Oakland. As many predicted when he chose to join the Warriors, fresh of a 73-9 season, winning doesn’t cure everything.

Let's face it @KDTrey5 is bitter because he's won the last 2 chips against @KingJames and the league isn't crowning him as the best. ?‍♂️ that's what happenes when you're only the cherry on top. ?

— I Am Valuable. (@Tweeter_Griffen) December 13, 2018

Odds Kevin Durant Signs with the Clippers

Enter Steve Ballmer and his crew, who have quietly shifted from the stagnant Chris Paul-Blake Griffin-DeAndre Jordan going-nowhere triumvirate to a squad that has great role players, budding young stars, and max cap space to chase not one, but two superstars.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has a master plan … and it involves both Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, writes @WindhorstESPN.https://t.co/BfmVFQzj07

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 12, 2018

It’s gone so well that the Clippers are actually ahead of schedule – they’re in the thick of the loaded Western Conference playoff chase, and it looks like they’ve got some staying power.

That would give Durant everything he wanted minus the long shadow cast by LeBron, potentially replaced by the cyborg of NBA superstars in Kawhi Leonard.

It’s surprising that the Clippers come in with such long odds. I would jump at the +700 now.

“Kevin Durant needs to stop with his jealousy. … We know that Kevin Durant has thin skin. LeBon doesn’t need to get on the internet. He doesn't need that validation because he already knows he’s the GOAT. ‘GOAT-MAN GOAT-MAN. Yeah, that's him.’" — @ShannonSharpe

cc: @HaHaDavis pic.twitter.com/LNJnaFXZ5Q

— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) December 12, 2018

And while joining the Lakers would create a union even more star-studded than LeBron and peak Wade, and perhaps more lethal than Shaq-Kobe, Durant’s comments tell me that he’d prefer to compete with James, and not join him.