Kevin Durant "Weighing Offers" To Play Overseas: Maccabi Tel Aviv, Valencia, and BBC Bayreuth All Considered

Via Marc J. Spears at Yahoo! Sports:

If the labor impasse isn’t resolved, Durant said he could sign a contract next week to play overseas. He’s weighing offers from Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, Valencia in Spain and BBC Bayreuth in Germany. Any deal Durant signs would include an opt-out clause that allows him to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout ends.

It appears KD, like all of us, is sick of exhibition games. If you haven't noticed, he's pretty much been accepting any offer to play in an exhibition game, and during his down time, he's playing flag football.

I would assume he's not heading over to Europe before his scheduled flag football game with LeBron on November 30th, and at least not before his November 20th charity game in Houston to benefit John Lucas' foundation. Then again, he could just drop it all and head over.

He also says in the same article that he doesn't want to accept the owners offer, especially this late. I doubt many fans are rooting for either side right now, but if I were a player, I'd tend to agree with what KD is saying. If you're going to hold out this long, why not just go the whole season and get an offer that's at least somewhat reasonable? The offer is only going to get worse in a few years time.

But enough of my ranting. Hit the jump to find a quick breakdown of the teams he's considering.

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv

Plays in the Euroleague, Adriatic League, and Israeli League

Current Record: 3-1 (Top of Group C in Euroleague)

NBA Players: Jordan Farmar

Analysis: As a basketball fan, this is the one you've got to hope for. This team is in the same group as Serge Ibaka's Real Madrid, they play in the highest league in Europe, and they also play in the competitive Adreatic League. Easily my number one option, but probably not the biggest offer of money to Durant, considering how tied up they are in contracts right now.

Valencia

Only Plays in Spain's Liga ACB

Current Record: 4-3 (6th Place in Liga ACB)

No NBA Players

Analysis: It's a far cry from Maccabi Tel Aviv, but Valencia is still easily the second best option for basketball fans. They play in Spain's Liga ACB, which is the strongest domestic league in Europe and regularly produces the most Euroleague teams per nation. He would still play Ibaka's Real Madrid, and see some other strong matchups by way of Juan Carlos Navarro on Barcelona, Jorge Garbajosa on Unicaja Malaga, and Reggie Williams and Kevin Seraphin on Caja Laboral. But you'd still want to see him play against international competition, which would leave me wanting a bit more if he ended up playing in Valencia.

BBC Bayreuth

Only Plays in the German Bundesliga

Current Record: 1-4 (17th Place, Relegation Possible)

No NBA Players

Analysis: This is easily the most boring option on the table for KD. Germany's Basketball Bundesliga is alright as a whole, but it's not especially exciting. You'll see KD play against a few familiar faces like Kyle Weaver (ALBA Berlin), Bobby Brown (EWE Baskets Oldenberg), and Tibor Pleiss (Brose Baskets), but for the most mart he would just steamroll through the competition as he does in the Summer Leagues.