Knicks Rumors: 'Confidence' Kevin Durant Would've Signed with NY Without Injury

New York Knicks fans are quite familiar with creating "what-could-have-been" scenarios, and they reportedly have another missed opportunity to think about when it comes to Kevin Durant.

According to Ian Begley of SNY, there are members of the Knicks organization who had "confidence" Durant would have joined the team last offseason if he didn't suffer a ruptured Achilles during the Golden State Warriors' loss to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals.

Instead, Durant was sidelined for the 2019-20 campaign and chose to join the Brooklyn Nets alongside Kyrie Irving.

While Begley pointed out Durant has publicly said he didn't strongly consider the Knicks, he also noted New York traded away young star Kristaps Porzingis in part to create the salary-cap space to sign two stars such as KD and Irving.

The team is heading in a different direction under new president Leon Rose, but it will be difficult to build the type of optimism that having Durant and Irving on the same roster would have created.

Instead, the Knicks were a mere 21-45 before the 2019-20 season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic and had already clinched their seventh straight losing campaign.

Even with Durant sidelined all season and Irving playing a mere 20 games because of his own injuries, the Nets are in a playoff position as the seventh-place team in the Eastern Conference and figure to be on the shortlist of NBA Finals contenders in 2020-21 if both superstars return to form.

Durant is a two-time champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, one-time league MVP, four-time scoring champion and 10-time All-Star selection who would have been the face of the Knicks franchise for years to come.

Now New York is in a position when it will need to sign new stars to help overcome the missed chances of the past.