And while the Celts may not be atop Durant’s wish list at the moment, there was a time six years ago when they were one of just six teams he agreed to meet with as he decided his free agent fate. Sources told me at the time that Boston’s agreement with prized free agent Al Horford in that summer of 2016 put the club on his dance card. He, of course, eventually decided on Golden State, but soon after that announcement, I spoke to him at a U.S. Olympic Team practice in Las Vegas and asked how the Celtics had gotten into the running. “I just like the way they play,” Durant said. “I like their coach [Brad Stevens at the time]. I feel they have some good pieces.”
There are still expected to be other suitors for Ayton, league sources told B/R, and an offer sheet could come soon now that the moratorium is ending. When an NBA team signs a restricted free agent to an offer sheet, the two-day window in which the player’s incumbent team can match said offer can only begin once the moratorium period concludes. Signing a sheet before Wednesday afternoon would have locked the offering team into a difficult purgatory. Only Indiana and San Antonio currently hold the cap space to give Ayton the payday he wants.