The Spurs have allegedly set up a meeting with the most desired NBA free agent on earth: Kevin Durant. That proves what everybody already knows: the Spurs are smart. But it won’t be Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili showing up at Durant’s house, bolting the door and forcing him to sign. The Spurs aren’t the LA Clippers — and Kawhi Leonard may be the polar opposite of Clippers DeAndre Jordan hostage participant Paul Pierce (though they are both the truth).
But a meeting? Sure. Durant is a superstar who fits with the Spurs ethic that says play the right way and give it everything you’ve got. It was an ethic that drew LaMarcus Aldridge to San Antonio and it’s tantalizing to imagine what a Durant Aldridge Leonard big 3 would look like under Spurs chief Gregg Popovich. When they were interested in Aldridge, Pop practiced a light touch approach, acknowledging that the “players either like us or they don’t.” Durant has seen the Spurs up close long enough to assume he likes them. Durant’s famous MVP acceptance speech seemed to be written by the same guy who authored the Spurs entire basketball culture. But the Spurs won’t dance for KD. The Express-News reports that Pop said: “We did that mariachi thing a couple of years ago (in attempts to attract Jason Kidd in 2003). It didn’t work. So we don’t do that anymore.”
