Kevin Durant will be the most coveted player in the free agent market this summer, and the Wizards seem less and less likely to lure him to the District. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

There is no denying that the Washington Wizards have not met expectations 45 games into this season. They remain outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference at 21-24, one game behind the eighth-place Detroit Pistons in the loss column, and were last over .500 on the day before Thanksgiving. Injuries or not, they expected better with the all-star break a couple weeks away.

There is still plenty of time to right the ship and earn a third straight postseason berth, but Monday night’s meeting with the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena will serve as a blunt reminder that succeeding in the short term was complicated by management’s long-term vision.

Washington was designed to make some noise in the playoffs, perhaps even advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1979, but not with a realistic chance to win a championship this season. That final step, Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld decided a while ago, would depend largely on luring Thunder superstar Kevin Durant, the jewel of the upcoming free agent class, back home this summer. But what happens if Durant, born in the District and raised in Prince George’s County, spurns the Wizards in July? What is the franchise’s Plan B?

[From July: The Wizards are all-in on trying to land Kevin Durant]

The Wizards deliberately constructed their roster with the 2016 summer sweepstakes in mind. They have just four players with guaranteed contracts for next season — John Wall, Marcin Gortat, Otto Porter Jr. and Kelly Oubre Jr. — and chose to wait to sign Bradley Beal long term until this summer to maximize financial flexibility. But unless LeBron James stuns the industry and listens to other teams’ pitches when he opts out of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, there will be no other free agent in Durant’s stratosphere this summer.

Durant, 27, is a transcendent talent in his prime. He is his generation’s greatest scorer. He is a seven-time all-star, a former MVP and he has quelled any uncertainty regarding the broken foot that forced him to miss 55 games last season with exceptional play this season. A couple dozen teams will have the necessary cap space to sign him, and the Los Angeles Lakers are considered the front-runners for his services if he were to leave Oklahoma City this summer, which makes Washington’s blueprint a massive risk, one that could potentially set the franchise back and waste the remainder of Wall’s contract.

But the Wizards don’t foresee pivoting away from their strategy, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Even if they plunge further out of playoff contention before the Feb. 18 trade deadline, they don’t plan on trading any of their core pieces or acquiring any players who would impede them from having enough room to sign a player to a max contract.

[From November: Jerry Brewer writes the Wizards should consider Plan B]

“Ernie Grunfeld’s been around a long time,” NBA TV analyst and former Grizzlies general manager Stu Jackson said. “He’s not going to do anything frivolous or stupid. If he thinks he has a shot, he’s going to hang in there because there aren’t just very many players of this guy’s caliber that comes along. He’s going to go down as one of the top players ever. Those guys just don’t come along very often. Is it worth it? Yeah.”

If the Wizards don’t land Durant, they would be left to give a max contract to a player who probably wouldn’t instantaneously make them a title contender like Durant would unless they decide to wait until 2017 — when the free agent class is expected to include more franchise-altering players — or execute a trade for a top-tier talent.

Players who could garner a max contract beyond Durant this summer include Toronto Raptors swingman DeMar DeRozan, Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes, Charlotte Hornets forward Nicolas Batum and Atlanta Hawks big man Al Horford. Washington could also elect to divvy up the money and target a couple cheaper players like the Portland Trail Blazers did last summer when LaMarcus Aldridge departed to sign with the San Antonio Spurs. New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson, Boston Celtics swingman Evan Turner and Memphis Grizzlies forward Jeff Green are among the players in that category.

“I think the worst thing you can do if you don’t get Durant is sort of panic and start filling in holes with mediocrity,” Jackson said. “Because then you run the risk of being in that space where no one wants to be in the NBA, and that is [where] you’re good enough to make the playoffs but you’re not good enough to ever realistically win it. And at the end of the day, everyone is in it to win the championship.”

Almost every team in the league will have enough money coming off their books to sign Durant to the maximum money possible thanks to the imminent tsunami of money from a new television contract that will crash the market in July and is projected to hike the salary cap threshold from $70 million to $89 million. A few others would just need to make a couple moves to shed salary and join the fray.

As presently constituted, if the Wizards renounce all their impending free agents except Beal, they will have approximately $33 million in cap space. Durant is eligible to make up to $24.9 million per year because players with seven to nine years of service can earn 30 percent of the cap.

The prevailing thought is Durant will go wherever he believes will give him the best chance to win. The Wizards hoped to show him that they are a viable destination this season. They adopted a pace-and-space style conducive for Wall’s skill set but also for Durant’s abilities, and boast an enticing young back court. But Washington has been an unmitigated disappointment thus far this season, and Durant called Wizards fans “disrespectful” for cheering for him when the Thunder played in Washington last season.

“Kevin Durant is on a level with his game and even his mentality and how he feels about himself and his confidence, that it’s not going to matter to Kevin Durant if the Wizards finish 38-44 and either don’t make the playoffs or make the playoffs as an eight seed and lose in the first round,” ESPN NBA analyst and 10-year NBA veteran Tim Legler said. “It’s not like Kevin Durant is going to look at that situation and say, ‘Man, I’m not going to go to that team. They didn’t make the playoffs.’ He’s going to look at it, wherever he goes, that he can elevate the entire franchise on his shoulders and take them to a place they have not been before.”

Durant also has great financial incentive to stay in Oklahoma: The Thunder has surrounded Durant with a top-flight nucleus featuring Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, and it is the only team that can offer him a five-year contract because it owns his Bird Rights. Accordingly, Oklahoma City can commit the most money to him. Durant could also decide to re-sign with an opt-out for after next season — like James did last summer with the Cavaliers — and become a free agent in 2017 when Westbrook and Ibaka will also be on the market. If he elects that path, he’d be eligible to make 35 percent of the $108 million salary cap projected for the 2017-18 season and could make an extra $40 million over the life of the deal.

All that figures to work against the Wizards, but plenty can happen over the next five months.

“I think it’s a sound strategy. And one if you’re in the position of the Washington Wizards, the home town of Kevin Durant, I think you have to swing for the fence and they are,” Jackson said. “I don’t think anybody begrudges them making the effort to come up with the strategy to clear cap room and hoping they’ll be able to recruit him during a free agent year. I think Plan B and C will go into place in the event that Durant decides not to become a Washington Wizard. If I’m Ernie Grunfeld, I think you got to take that big swing first.”

Wizards Note: Coach Randy Wittman will not coach the team Monday against the Thunder or Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors after his brother Rick died early Sunday morning. Assistant coach Don Newman will assume coaching duties. Wittman is expected to return Friday when Washington hosts the Philadelphia 76ers.