During the week-long process of Kevin Durant testing free agency, there were some high-octane courtships taking place around the NBA. The Thunder pushed him on home, the Warriors sold him on a super team and the Celtics trotted out Tom Brady to dazzle Durant.
It nearly worked too. Durant, in Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League, admitted to the Boston Herald when Brady showed up it was almost enough to sway him into signing with the Celtics.
"I was ready to just say, 'All right. Let's go. I'm ready to go,' seeing Tom Brady there," Durant said. "Just seeing someone so successful at his craft and just a great ambassador for the game of football and the city of Boston, it was just great to be in the presence of greatness.
"But at the same time, I knew I couldn't let that distract me. But he was great. It was great to see him."
Durant ultimately shocked the world by inking a two-year deal (with a player option for the second year) with the Warriors, teaming up with Stephen Curry and the team that knocked him out of the Western Conference Finals for what should be the single greatest shooting team in NBA history.
People won't like them and that's OK, because good luck finding reasons why they won't annihilate most of the NBA.
But back to Brady: it's pretty nuts that the mere appearance of the dashing and talented Patriots quarterback could totally alter the outcome of the 2016-17 NBA season.
Brady's got that kind of pull, with the Celtics reportedly obsessed with the Boston superstar.
It also wouldn't be a really difficult sell. Brady told Durant what kind of sports town Boston is (PASSIONATE!) and there's also the hypothetical benefit of playing in the Eastern Conference (LeBron is there but the Celtics would immediately be the second-best team) and working with a guy like Brad Stevens (probably the first pick in terms of coaches if you're starting a franchise).
Ultimately Brady wasn't enough to sway Durant from the tempting idea of the Warriors, but it speaks loudly to Boston and his impact that he nearly had the basketball superstar leaning in that direction.
