Kevin Durant mentioned the Knicks during his late-night press-conference rant following another Warriors’ victory Wednesday — ticked off about speculation he’s headed to the Garden in July.
Knicks coach David Fizdale understands why a marquee free-agent-to-be would get agitated by the overwhelming speculation. The Durant-to-New York rumor heated to a boil after the Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis last week to open up enough cap room not only for KD but to bring in a star sidekick.
“It’s tough,’’ Fizdale said. “It’s a tough business that way because you just want to be focused on your craft and the guys you have in the gym working and your teammates. There’s a lot of hypothetical situations thrown out there at guys — misnomers and assumptions. That can become frustrating sometimes because no matter what, we still have to have our media obligations and continue to talk about it. I can see where it can wear on a guy.’’
Durant told the media to “grow up’’ and singled out one Bay Area reporter, chastising him for writing about his Knicks future, though Durant said he’d never seen him talk to anybody in the Warriors’ locker room, including himself.
“I have nothing to do with the Knicks,” Durant said. “I don’t know who traded Porzingis. They got nothing to do with me.”
Contrary to popular opinion, Durant has almost never been asked about his future this season after setting preseason ground rules. His lone exception came last month in a 10-minute interview with three New York writers before his Warriors faced the Knicks, when he said the Knicks were a young team “starting to figure it out.’’
It seems obvious Durant, who broke a nine-day media silence Wednesday night, is getting heat from his teammates because of the free-agent chatter overshadowing their current monster run.
Durant has been linked to the Knicks since July 1 when he signed only for one year guaranteed — with The Post reporting the Knicks may be on his radar this time. His agent/manager Rich Kleiman is a New Yorker and a longtime Knicks fan and Durant’s father is also a lifelong fan. Durant has more links to the Knicks with assistant coach Royal Ivey a close friend and newcomer DeAndre Jordan also a compadre.
The Post reported this week Dallas officials believe the Knicks are confident they have a real shot at landing Durant.
Fizdale realizes some fans care more about the off-court soap opera than the game.
“There’s enough people who really care about the season and our fans are really behind teams,’’ Fizdale said. “Free agency sparks a lot of stories and assumptions and hypotheticals. I guess that part is fun for people. It’s never easy on players and teams. I understand both sides of it.”
Knicks power forward Noah Vonleh has performed ruggedly this season and some teams looked at him as a rental. But he stayed and the Knicks will have to either use cap space to re-sign the former 2013 lottery pick or give him the $5 million room exception.
“I’ve been traded twice already so there’s no surprises,’’ Vonleh said. “I know how to handle it, I know what to expect. But for some of the other guys who don’t know what to expect, it’s kind of a shock to get traded. I remember the first time I got traded from Charlotte I was getting ready to go to the gym and work out and look up at my phone and people don’t call me that often are calling me so I knew something was up. I looked down at my phone and look at Twitter and saw I got traded to Portland.”