





Kevin Durant is from Washington.



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Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant's free agency is already looming. It's crazy because it's not until 2016, but it's also kind of not crazy because this is the second-best player in basketball and we just watched the No. 1 guy change teams. While every franchise in the NBA would love to make a run at the MVP, Washington Wizards fans are hopeful that Durant will want to come home like LeBron James did, and they're hoping that the presence of John Wall and Bradley Beal in the backcourt will be enough to entice him. Durant might already be considering it, via Grantland's Zach Lowe:The Texas teams will take their shot if they hear the right intel, and Durant's hometown Wizards are biding their time in the easier conference. That intel is all over the place, by the way. Some teams are optimistic it will be open season, and others have heard rumblings that Durant has already made it known it will come down to the Thunder and Wizards. Nobody really knows.Reminder: the Wizards hired David Adkins, who coached Durant in high school, as an player development guy. Durant told USA Today's Sam Amick that a few months ago in the offseason that it would be tough to leave Russell Westbrook, but he was trying not to think too much about the future:"Our relationship has grown a lot, and it's one of those things where it would definitely be difficult to not be running up and down the court with him, so I try not to even think about that," Durant says. "But at the same time, I just want to enjoy the moment and not worry about the future, even though it's tough to. I go home, and everybody asks me. Man, it's crazy. Like little kids, 4 years old, 'You coming to the Wizards?' Man, (expletive), how do you know about this? At 4 years old, I didn't even know what basketball players were. How do you know about free agency?"One more reminder: before Durant left Team USA, the topic of teaming up with Wall and Beal in Washington came up. Again, from USA Today's Sam Amick:"It's not a bad (idea) at all," Wall told USA TODAY Sports about the idea of Durant eventually adopting James' homecoming strategy. "Two of the best guys in the East going head to head four times a year? It'd be pretty exciting. You just sit back and watch and see what happens, but (the Wizards' Durant-motivated moves) definitely lets him know that we want him around.""To be with one of the top two best players in the league, in my opinion, who can score at will and do whatever he wants (would be great)," Wall said. "You could have a Big Three with me, him and Brad (Beal), and I feel like that's what you need to win a championship now is a Big Three. It'd be great to have him back home."You know, just like LeBron."I grew up watching the Wizards, (the) Bullets-Wizards," Durant said when pressed on the topic by a reporter from the Washington Post. "I grew up taking the train to that arena all the time. I watched Georgetown, I watched the Bullets, I watched the (WNBA's) Mystics, so that whole city is a part of me, is in my blood. Like I said, I love going back home to see my family and stuff and playing there, but I love Oklahoma City too."It feels pointless to speculate too much at this early juncture, but it's noteworthy that at least some people involved in the league feel that Durant has decided it's OKC or Washington. Every move the Wizards front office makes in between now and the summer of 2016 is going to be viewed through the prism of trying to attract him.One thing to watch, aside from the obvious storyline of how the Thunder fare in the next two seasons: can Washington acquire another big man? Marcin Gortat is signed through 2019, but he's already 30. Nene's contract will expire when Durant is a free agent, and he is 32. The backcourt is great, but unless Durant is going to want to make a mid-career transition to the power forward spot, the Wizards should be looking at adding another frontcourt player at some point.