NEW YORK – Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, according to a league source, were planning a vacation at the end of the season; a quick getaway to spend quality time together and map out their respective futures.



Those plans – as well as the entire 2019-20 NBA season, really – changed dramatically when Durant’s Achilles ruptured in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The next trip Durant would make was to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. As of Wednesday, Durant was still in town preparing for free agency on July 1st, with no shortage of teams lining up to sign a player who will likely be sidelined until the 2020-21 season. It’s a testament to Durant’s greatness and a sign of how desperate so many teams – the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets among them – are to add a franchise player who is recovering from a major injury.



On the eve of the NBA Draft and with free agency less two weeks away, the Knicks and Nets remain...