Clippers’ meeting with Kevin Durant ‘went very well’

The Clippers have made their pitch to Kevin Durant. Now the waiting begins.

They unveiled a four-hour presentation to the former NBA most valuable player on Friday evening in the Hamptons on Long Island, N.Y., in hopes of landing what would be the most prized free agent in their history.

One person familiar with the meeting said it “went very well,” with Durant appearing engaged with a proposal that centered on how the veteran small forward would immediately create a championship-caliber roster alongside the team’s current trio of stars.

There was some thought that Durant would let the Clippers know by Saturday whether they were still in the running for his services to help with the balance of their free-agent planning. The team is waiting on Durant’s decision to make any other moves and lost forward Jeff Green on Friday when he agreed to a one-year, $15-million contract with the Orlando Magic.

Durant had already met with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors by the time the Clippers made their pitch and was scheduled to sit down with the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and the Thunder a second time before reaching his decision next week.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, Coach Doc Rivers and front-office executives Lawrence Frank and Dave Wohl attended the meeting along with star players Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Point guard Chris Paul could not make it because of a scheduling conflict with his vacation in Spain but had spoken with Durant about his hopes of becoming teammates.

TMZ Sports displayed on its website photos of Ballmer, Rivers and Jordan arriving in the Hamptons in the midst of a rainstorm while clutching Starbucks cups. Rivers smiled widely, apparently not bothered by the presence of the paparazzi.

The Clippers possess at least one solid lure in their pursuit of Durant. Jordan and Durant are longtime friends, having vacationed together in Europe last summer and worked out in recent weeks. They will also play together for Team USA in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

It was not immediately clear how Durant felt about the prospect of a “Big Four” lineup pairing him with the Clippers’ current stars, creating a top-heavy roster also laden with far lesser players because of salary-cap constraints.

Other alternatives would be getting Durant to play with Paul and Jordan by facilitating a sign-and-trade agreement with the Thunder involving Griffin or acquiring Durant outright and trading one of the Clippers’ stars to a team with cap space to provide enough resources to fill out the roster with higher-quality players.

The Clippers lost one veteran they had hoped to retain earlier in the day when Green signed with the Magic. He had been the team’s biggest in-season addition after arriving in February as part of a trade that cost the team Lance Stephenson and a first-round draft pick. Green ended up being a three-month rental, averaging 10.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in a part-time starting role.

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Green, who turns 30 next month, cannot sign with the Magic until the free-agency moratorium ends on July 7. His new contract would represent a significant raise from the $9.2 million he made last season, but the bump in pay was widely expected because of the dramatic spike in the salary cap that is projected to reach $94 million per team.

Retaining Green was part of the Clippers’ fallback plan should Durant sign elsewhere. That plan would also entail keeping most of the team’s free agents, though there’s no assurances it will happen. Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers and Cole Aldrich are being pursued by a host of teams in addition to the Clippers, with Wesley Johnson and Luc Mbah a Moute also expected to receive interest from outside suitors.

Austin Rivers had meetings scheduled with the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers. Crawford had spoken with Orlando and was scheduled to meet with the Dallas Mavericks and correspond with the Miami Heat.

Crawford reiterated in an interview with NBA TV that he was open-minded about his decision but gave an indication of what might influence his choice most heavily.

“Obviously,” he said, “championship is always the main thing.”

If nothing else, his goals appear to align with those of the Clippers.

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