The Knicks seem to believe the chances are high Kevin Durant will come to town in free agency. Now, it looks like they want fans to believe it, too.
Over the weekend, multiple Knicks season-ticket holders posted on Twitter images taken from the Knicks website that show Durant as part of the team’s ticket-renewal pitch.
Of course, the ad, which depicts Knicks center Mitchell Robinson squaring up against Durant, does not explicitly state Durant will be playing his home games at the Garden next year, but the subtle implication is clear.
The ad copy with the image reads, “Renew for the 2019-20 season by February 28, 2019,” and the Robinson-Durant image appears below. The image had been taken down by Sunday morning.
“Game action photos are used all the time for marketing purposes, but given everything going on, we took the precaution of taking the photo down,” the Knicks said in a statement. “To be clear, it was one of several rotating photos on the website.”
It does not technically break any league rules to feature an opposing player in a season-ticket pitch, but the Durant case is unique and will likely be scrutinized by those watching his highly anticipated free agency.
In 2013, the Hawks were fined by the league for tampering after sending out a memo to season-ticket holders that mentioned “players who are currently under contract to other teams but who will become free agents [in the] summer.”
That memo concerned then-Clippers star Chris Paul and Lakers center Dwight Howard, neither of whom, it should be noted, landed in Atlanta that summer.
The Knicks, mired in a franchise-worst 16-game losing streak, have made no secret about their desire to lure Durant to New York, and they will have the salary-cap space to offer both him and another megastar max contracts.
But they probably should land Durant before they use him to sell fans on tickets for next year — otherwise the NBA will likely have something to say about it.