Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant has the option to sign a 10-year veteran maximum contract extension that would pay him around $35.4 million per year. Durant might forego that option in order to help the Warriors keep their core intact, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Chris Haynes:
Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant is willing to take less than the maximum contract extension he is eligible for this summer as a 10-year veteran if it helps the Warriors keep the core of their team intact, league sources told ESPN.
Durant’s gesture would allow the Warriors to keep their entire core together for years to come even as star point guard Stephen Curry potentially signs one of the first five-year, “supermax” contracts created by the new collective bargaining agreement in which a team can reward one designated veteran player per year with a contract starting at 35 percent of next year’s projected $101 million salary cap.
This is particularly relevant to free agents Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, who have been pivotal to the Warriors’ success as they have advanced to three straight NBA Finals.
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The most they can pay Durant in 2017-18 without creating cap space is 120 percent of his 2016-17 salary, a little less than $32 million.
Curry, long one of the league’s most underpaid stars at about $11 million per year, could then sign a new contract starting at $35.4 million a season and worth approximately $205 million over the next five years.
If he demanded it, there’s no doubt that the Warriors would pay Durant his max money. He’s certainly worth it. If they were to do that, however, it would mean renouncing their rights to both Iguodala and Livingston – arguably the Warriors’ two most important bench players.
More from ESPN, on the specifics of what Durant’s extension could look like:
Durant could sign a so-called “non-Bird” extension for up to four years, but a more likely scenario would have him sign another two-year deal, with a player option on the second year (similar to what LeBron James did in Cleveland for several years). Durant would then be eligible for another one-plus-one deal next year starting at an estimated $35.7 million and a five-year, supermax contract of approximately $217 starting in 2019-20.
By taking approximately $4 million less than his max next year and waiting to get his long-term extension for at least another season, Durant would allow the Warriors a chance to use their Bird rights to re-sign their own free agents (mostly notably Iguodala and Livingston) to deals far more comparable to what they’d likely see on the open market.
Durant hasn’t made a decision yet, but winning, not money, is his priority, say Shelburne and Hayes:
While sources stressed that Durant has not yet decided on how to structure his next contract, it is believed he’s willing to take less than the maximum he’s eligible for this summer in order to keep the Warriors’ core together and give them the best chance of contending for years to come.
