In a historically talented class, the consensus top two free agents are the Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant and the Toronto Raptors Kawhi Leonard.
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On the eve of the free agency period beginning, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne have reported that the two All-NBA forwards have had discussions about scenarios that would see them join forces as teammates.
Reporting w/ @RamonaShelburne: Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard have been discussing free agent scenarios that could include a future with them playing together. For now, there are two clear possibilities for them to sign into the same franchise: Clippers and Knicks. Story soon.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2019
Within the report, the two state that "for now, there are two clear possibilities for the two All-NBA forwards to sign into the same franchise -- the LA Clippers and New York Knicks."
The Clippers and Knicks are two of three teams that have created space to sign two players to max contracts; each team is on the short list of teams that Durant and Leonard are scheduled to meet with. The Nets, who have also created space for two max players, have largely been linked with Celtics All-Star guard Kyrie Irving and do not appear to be in play to sign both Durant and Leonard.
Durant (2017, 2018) and Leonard (2019) have won the past three NBA Finals MVP Awards. The two played together on "Team LeBron" at the 2019 NBA All-Star game and briefly faced off in a quarter of the 2019 NBA Finals before Durant went down with a ruptured Achilles.
Leonard, who has dealt with injury woes over the past two seasons, called Durant's injury 'devastating', adding that "I'm pretty sure he's going to attack each day and get better and come back strong."
Free agents can officially meet with teams on July 1.
