Day 1 of the Kevin Durant sweepstakes is officially in the books.
Durant’s three-day slate of meetings began with his morning visit with the Golden State Warriors in the Hamptons, and it spoke volumes that one particular player took part: Andre Iguodala. Because the Warriors would have to make moves in order to free up a maximum salary slot for Durant if he decided to come, Iguodala had long been pegged as a possible piece to be traded.
But in the wake of recent revelations that there is a divide of sorts between the Warriors and center Andrew Bogut, it’s quite clear that he — and not Iguodala — would likely be on the way out if Durant came their way. In addition to Iguodala, the Warriors’ visit included owner Joe Lacob, head coach Steve Kerr and players Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
According to one person who was present, the meeting that lasted more than two hours went "very well." The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the process. And for anyone who wants to say these meetings always seem to go well, we refer you to the past few summers with the Los Angeles Lakers and nearly all of their high-profile targets.
From there, when Durant took part in an afternoon meeting with the Los Angeles Clippers that lasted more than four hours, the verb-ology grew even more verbose. Durant, as myself and other reporters were told by one of his confidantes, was "blown away." The Clippers’ contingent included owner Steve Ballmer, coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers, his front office comrades Lawrence Frank and Dave Wohl, as well as Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
Meetings with the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder (again) are still come in the next two days. And lest any Warriors or Clippers fans get too excited, Oklahoma City — which already had the first word with Durant before free agency began on Thursday — remains the heavy favorite to win the Durant sweepstakes.
Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.
