Indiana Pacers Rumors: Don’t Hold Your Breath On Kevin Durant to Indy

The Indiana Pacers will have a decent amount of cap space during this year’s free agency period and can potentially lure in a big-name free agent — just don’t get your hopes up on the likes of a superstar such as Kevin Durant.

The Indiana Pacers head into the 2016 offseason with upwards of $40-million in cap space pending any re-signings of their own. Having that much money to work with, team president Larry Bird has the opportunity to bring in a high-quality player that could immediately improve the Pacers’ roster.

We’ve heard the Mike Conley discussion a number of times. The 28-year-old point guard and Indianapolis native is one of the more realistic free agent acquisitions that the team could make due to the fact that he would provide the Pacers with a consistent and aggressive scoring threat at the position.

As of late, there have been some mild rumors regarding the team’s chances of signing the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant — who was the league MVP in 2014 and without-a-doubt a top-10 player in the NBA.

Many Pacers fans have even gone lengths to get #KevINDyrant trending on Twitter in an attempt to lure the superstar to Indiana.

The Pacers could only imagine Durant playing alongside both Paul George and Myles Turner. The signing would put the team back into contention as one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams — which is why the idea of Durant signing with the small-market Pacers is nothing more than a pipe dream.

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During the 2015-16 season, Durant averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists through 72 games with the Thunder. Since coming into the league in 2007, Durant has quickly become one of the league’s top scorers. He helped lead the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals in which they fell to the Golden State Warriors in seven games.

Durant signed a five-year, $89-million deal with Oklahoma City in 2011, and is set to make much, much more on his next contract.

Next: Indiana Pacers: Five Possible First Round Options

The Pacers have their proven superstar in Paul George and a rising star that is Myles Turner. The idea of bringing in another top-10 talent would be a dream come true to Bird and the franchise, but is a major reach of actually happening.

But hey, we all can dream, can’t we?