Cavaliers:
Forward Kevin Durant agreed to terms on a twoyear contract worth about $53 million to remain with the Golden State Warriors, the Associated Press reported Monday, citing a person with knowledge of the situation.
The deal, which like others during the free agency period cannot be signed until Thursday, calls for about $25 million in the first year, with a player option for the second season. It represents a significant giveback for the NBA Finals MVP, who could have signed a maximum deal that would have paid him $7 million to $9 million more in 2017-18.
As he planned all along to provide the Warriors with financial flexibility, Durant waited as Golden State general manager Bob Myers agreed to terms with the team’s other free agents.
Guard Stephen Curry received a record $201 million over five years, a maximum deal.
Among the key reserves, 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala got a three-year contract with $48 million guaranteed; Shaun Livingston agreed to $24 million and three years, and David West received one year at the veteran minimum of $2.3 million.
Durant, 28, declined last week to opt in for the $27.7 million second year of his previous deal with the Warriors and became an unrestricted free agent, in an effort to keep the team core in place. He made $26.5 million last season.
Durant joined Golden State last season — the announcement was a year ago today — after 10 years in Oklahoma City and helped lead the Warriors to their second championship in three seasons.
In the playoffs he averaged 28.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists and shot 55.6 percent, scoring more than 30 points in nine of his 15 games. He missed two games with a calf strain.
Durant also emerged as a defender, handling much of the load against LeBron James during the Finals. The Warriors beat James and the Cavaliers, four games to one, for Durant’s first NBA title.
Former AllStar guard Chauncey Billups withdrew from consideration for a top job in the front office, saying the “timing just isn’t right.”
“I will continue to focus on broadcasting and my other business endeavors,” said Billups, who works for ESPN.
Billups does not have any front-office experience, but his reputation attracted him to owner Dan Gilbert, who has known him since he played for the Pistons. It is believed Gilbert asked Billups to be president of basketball operations, a job to which Billups said he ultimately aspires.
The Cavs have been looking for a general manager since David Griffin parted with the club just before the draft last month.
Four-time AllStar forward Paul Millsap, an unrestricted free agent, agreed on a three-year contract worth $90 million, and he said Monday that the Hawks did not make an offer to keep him.
“It was pretty simple,” Millsap told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Denver, they came and they’ve been wanting me for years. They made that known . ... Atlanta decided to go another direction. They didn’t want to make an offer. So it was pretty simple. Denver was the team.”
Millsap, 32, averaged a career-high 18.1 points in 2016-17 in his fourth season with the Hawks.
He will play next to 6-foot10 Nikola Jokic, 22, who averaged 16.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 2016-17, his second NBA season.
Nuggets: