The day Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors traveled to New York this season, a billboard was raised near Madison Square Garden.
“Can you make NY sports great again?” it read, over a depiction of Durant in an unlabeled — but unmistakably Knicks — blue and orange jersey.
There is no indication such an overt recruiting pitch will go up in time for Durant’s visit Monday to Staples Center to face the Clippers. Billboards in L.A. Live belong either to Nike ads celebrating LeBron James or Netflix specials, and anyway, Durant has said he’s “not really impressed with that type of stuff.