NEW YORK – Kevin Durant is a week away from becoming the most coveted unrestricted free agent since LeBron James held the basketball world hostage two years ago. All season, the former Most Valuable Player and four-time scoring champion has offered little to no hint about where he might be leaning as he prepares to make the most important decision of his basketball career.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, the only franchise for which Durant has played, has made every effort to assemble the most talented roster around him and Russell Westbrook, and came within one game of reaching the NBA Finals. But on a night that was supposed to be about Ben Simmons going first overall to the Philadelphia 76ers exactly 20 years after soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Allen Iverson, Thunder general manager Sam Presti made a stunning trade that also sent a message to the rest of the league that Oklahoma City is serious about not letting go of its best player.

View photos The Thunder sent Serge Ibaka to the Magic for three players. (Getty Images) More

Presti dealt Serge Ibaka, a three-time all-defensive team player and a core member of a team that has reached the conference finals four times in the past six seasons, to Orlando in exchange for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to big man Domantas Sabonis. Ibaka's shot-blocking presence will be missed, but the Thunder may have finally found the answer at shooting guard in Oladipo, a former No. 2 overall pick who has shown flashes but failed to fully launch with the Magic.

Oladipo can defend and also take some of the playmaking burden off Westbrook and Durant, should the latter decide to stay for at least another year. Durant will have a tough decision either way, but Presti has made it clear that the Thunder won't stand pat in pursuit of that elusive championship.

Here's the rest of the 2016 NBA draft's winners and losers:

LOSER

Boston Celtics





The best draft night of Danny Ainge's tenure running the Celtics came nine years ago, when he was able to select Jeff Green and ship him to Seattle in exchange for Ray Allen. That move set the table for Boston to acquire Kevin Garnett later that summer to form a Hall of Fame trio that produced two Finals trips and an NBA championship in 2008. Ever since Allen, Garnett and Paul Pierce moved on, Ainge has been stacking assets with the hope – or expectation – that he could pull off another franchise-altering deal.

Celtics fans are still waiting. Armed with three first-round picks, Ainge was unable to make a deal, either because he wanted too much or was unwilling to surrender enough. Instead of getting Jimmy Butler or any other All-Star talent, the Celtics selected California swingman Jaylen Brown third overall, French power forward Guerschon Yabusele and Croatian center Ante Zizic – fine selections, but not the type of players who will have the kind of immediate impact Boston needs to move up in the Eastern Conference.

Coach Brad Stevens has proven that he can put a highly competitive team on the court, regardless of the names on the back of those storied uniforms, but the Celtics need stars to be anything more than a first-round flirtation.

WINNER

New York Knicks

For a team that didn't have a pick, the Knicks managed to hog some of the spotlight leading into the draft with a blockbuster trade for Derrick Rose that might help them in the present but sets them up for an intriguing summer in 2017. While it is easy to criticize the Knicks for getting constantly intoxicated by acquiring big names instead of patiently trying to build something substantive, the Rose deal is a justifiable gamble because it has minimal risk – and possibly a huge reward.





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