With LeBron James saying he’ll return to Cleveland, Kevin Durant remains the lone franchise player in this year’s free-agent class.

Here is a breakdown of the teams Durant is working to meet with starting July 1, including the challenge each team will face to create cap space and what a potential roster would look like if Durant were to sign.

Durant could also sign a one-year contract with Oklahoma City and enter free agency again in 2017. The free-agent meetings taking place this summer could lay the foundation for Durant’s free agency next year.

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Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City presents the strongest case for why Kevin Durant should re-sign.





View photos The Thunder's Russell Westbrook is a rare commodity: a franchise point guard. (AP) More

Oklahoma City, unlike the teams Durant will meet with (other than Boston), would not need to make roster sacrifices to create cap space.

The draft-night trade to acquire Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and Domantas Sabonis should only strengthen the Thunder’s chances to keep Durant.

Oklahoma City, which fell one win short of the NBA Finals, improved in the short and long term with the deal. All three players bring different elements, could have an impact now and also have upside to improve.

The core of the Thunder’s roster is still in its 20s, features franchise point guard Russell Westbrook, and highlights a balanced roster filled with former first-round picks, including lottery selections Sabonis, Cameron Payne and Steve Adams.

The window for the Thunder would remain open for the foreseeable future.

Because Durant has full Bird rights, the Thunder can exceed the cap while also offering the most years (five) and larger annual percentage increases than any other teams.

THE COMPETITORS IN THE WEST

Golden State Warriors

The loss in the NBA Finals has Warriors management pondering a shakeup.





Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are likely untouchable, but the Warriors do have decisions to make on the value of cap space vs. their own free agents, and key rotational players Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut.

Golden State, currently with no cap space, would need to create room to land Durant.

When the Warriors meet with Durant, they will show him how room will be created and what the team will look like now and in the future.

The moves to fit Durant:

1. Renounce the unrestricted free-agent holds of Marreese Speights, Leandro Barbosa, Ian Clark, James McAdoo, Brandon Rush and Anderson Varejao.

2. Withdraw the qualifying offers and renounce the cap holds of Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli.

3. Trade Bogut’s contract to a team with cap space.

The moves would leave Golden State with $26.6 million in cap space to sign Durant to a max contract.

However, doing so would only leave the Warriors with the minimum and room mid-level ($2.9 million) to fill out their roster.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs showed last summer that cap space can always be created.



View photos The Spurs acquired a big-time free agent last year in LaMarcus Aldridge. (AP) More

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