Feb 1, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) dribbles the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) defends during the first quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Washington Wizards’ Kevin Durant Dreams Are Slowly Dying

We all have dreams. Some of them are obtainable and others aren’t.

The Washington Wizards‘ biggest dream is to land their hometown hero, Kevin Durant, this summer. The franchise has done everything they could (well, except create a contending basketball team…) to put themselves in position to become a top candidate for the former MVP in 2016.

But things haven’t gone exactly as they expected.

While the Wizards have built a solid core with John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter and Kelly Oubre, they’ve failed to take “the leap” this season. Everyone expected the Wizards to become a top team in the Eastern Conference and therefore become a legitimate destination for franchise-altering talent. But they haven’t. Instead, the Wizards have fallen out of the NBA Playoffs picture.

Marred with injuries, the Wizards don’t look like a team that would attract any top free agents — let alone a former MVP.

We’ve all been optimistic about the team — sometimes to a fault. We all thought that they would have at least a puncher’s chance at convincing Durant to leave Russell Westbrook and the contending Oklahoma City Thunder to make his hometown team’s dream come true. Heck, there are still some people that believe that the Wizards still have a real chance at getting Durant.

At some point this season, though, those more realistic about the Washington Wizards’ chances started to become even less optimistic.

Once the Wizards started to suck, I immediately became skeptical.

The Wizards have put all of their chips into Kevin Durant and forgot that they actually had a season of basketball left to play before pursuing him. Now, they’ve built a bad basketball team that’s completely centered around one player — John Wall.

That’s a problem.

Look, I’m sure that Durant still thinks about potentially playing for the Wizards. But why should he join a bad basketball team? Just so he could see his extended family more than he usually does?

Durant, at the end of the day, is a franchise player who wants to win a championship and his best chance to do that is in Oklahoma City — unless, of course, he decides to join the Golden State Warriors. Then we’ll all quit watching basketball and resort to watching the Washington Kastles dominate.

Today, Adrian Wojnarowski — the all-knowing NBA reporter who rarely gets anything wrong in the world of basketball — said that the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers are not frontrunners to land Durant:

Washington and the Lakers, they are not frontrunners for Kevin Durant. He wants to win a championship. If he leaves Oklahoma – he may end up staying there – Golden State is the team that is worrisome for Oklahoma City. That’s the team that has Kevin Durant’s attention … Kevin Durant wants to win a Championship right away. Either he wants to do that in Oklahoma City, with the group they have, or he’s going to go somewhere he can win a title right away.

Did this potentially heartbreaking news ruin your day? If so, I sincerely apologize. But sometimes, the truth is a tough pill to swallow.

This doesn’t mean that the Washington Wizards won’t get Kevin Durant, but it certainly isn’t a pleasant thing to read. Sadly, it isn’t surprising either.

Regardless of what happens, the Wizards will still have enough cap-space to sign a max-level free agent in the summer.

They could go after the likes of Hassan Whiteside, who recently destroyed the team in Miami, Harrison Barnes, Nicolas Batum, and they could also complete a trade for another player who makes max money — Blake Griffin and Kevin Love come to mind.

None of those players are Kevin Durant, but they’re not Drew Gooden.

The Wizards will get another player who will help them win games. That player might be an All-Star like Al Horford it or might be someone like Whiteside, who has the potential to become one if he gets his head right.

All of this could change if the Washington Wizards end up turning their season around. Right now, though, their chances of getting Durant look rather slim.