Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Kevin Durant's one-word reaction to reports that LeBron James could potentially join the Golden State Warriors this summer: "bulls--t."

His longer answer, however, was a bit more nuanced.

"In this league, just like a couple years ago, me coming here, nobody would have thought that," Durant told reporters. "It's part of me as a basketball player that's just like, let's just worry about basketball. Then on the other side, we know this is a business as well."

Durant was asked his response to a report from ESPN.com's Chris Haynes that said James would be open to meeting with the Warriors, provided they somehow obtained max cap room. The article went out of its way to spell out the extreme unlikelihood that James would so much as meet with the Warriors but nonetheless took social media by storm Thursday.

James can be an unrestricted free agent this summer and will be the most coveted name on the market. The Cleveland Cavaliers' rocky season, along with James' tenuous relationship with management, has made teams believe he could leave his home state for a second time.

The Warriors face a near-impossible path to getting James. They would have to trade Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala and convince Durant to opt out of his contract and take even less money than the $26.2 million he's due in 2018-19. Durant already took a sizable discount on his current contract.

To put it in a very simple way: Durant's one-word reaction is the correct one. James isn't going to Golden State for a whole host of reasons. Few outside of the greater Ohio area would criticize him for leaving an increasingly toxic situation in Cleveland; leaving for Golden State, however, would likely be a Decision-level public relations catastrophe.

A much more likely situation would see James sign in Houston to team with Chris Paul and James Harden—and perhaps take down the Warriors as the final act in his NBA legacy.