NBA Free Agents 2016: Washington Wizards Start Preparation for Kevin Durant Sweepstakes
Oklahoma City Thunder superstar scorer Kevin Durant is set to become one of the biggest free agents in NBA history. He will be a restricted free agent after the season, and a lot of teams are interested in signing the soon-to-be 27-year-old scoring machine.
Among the teams rumoured to court Durant next year are Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, his hometown team Washington Wizards, and the Thunder.
In a report from ESPN, the Wizards are making more steps in luring the four-time scoring champion. The team from the capital will be building a new state-of-the-art practice facility as the plans for the $55 million entertainment and sports arena is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday with the help of the District of Columbia.
The new arena will become the Wizards' new practice facility, the new home floor for the Washington Mystics and a possible venue for concerts and other entertainment events, which can attract an estimated 380,000 people annually.
"The Wizards would have a world-class practice facility and our fans would be able to watch practice," And then we would attach to that facility a mini arena that would be really state of the art, maybe seat 3,000 to 5,000 people and we can do charity events there and have some preseason games there and maybe the Washington Mystics would play some games there," Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said via ESPN.
"And we'd then also want to bring a D-League team there to the community and we would program it to put it in a part of the city that can really use hundreds of jobs. Verizon Center is credited with helping turn around downtown D.C. and we think we can do it again in another community that needs a bear hug and some transformation," the 58-year-old owner added.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also released a statement via CSN Mid-Atlantic, saying, "Today marks an important day for the District of Columbia and the people of Ward 8. With this new development, we are driving private investment to the St. Elizabeths East campus, boosting the local economy, creating hundreds of jobs, and putting more District residents on their pathways to the middle class. This is a huge win for the District and yet another sign that Washington, DC is a city on the move."
The construction of the new facility is set to begin in 2016 with plans to be completed in fall of 2018.
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