Durant willing to sign for less to help team
OAKLAND, Calif. — Forward Kevin Durant is willing to sign for less than the maximum contract extension with the Golden State Warriors this summer to help the team keep its star-studded roster intact, according to an ESPN report Thursday.
By taking roughly $4 million less than the estimated $35.4 million max he’s eligible for, Durant, 28, would free up enough money to allow Golden State to retain key free agents forward Andre Iguodala and guard Shaun Livingston.
Durant would then accept a 20 percent raise from $26.5 million to $31.8 million for next season, the most the Warriors could offer without creating salary-cap space to re-sign Durant by renouncing their rights to Iguodala and Livingston.
Durant accepting less allows the Warriors to use their Bird exception on Iguodala and Livingston to sign them to deals that exceed their cap.
The Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary.
Durant thus could sign a twoyear deal with a one-year opt-out, like he did in July. That would allow Durant to pursue a huge, long-term deal with the Warriors after next season, when Golden State would hold his Bird rights and make things much easier on their salary cap.
“Like I said, I haven’t thought about it, but obviously you want to keep this group together,” Durant told the Bay Area News Group’s Tim Kawakami in a podcast in April. “We want to see how far we can go with this thing.
“I’m sure once the season’s over with, we’ll figure that stuff out — everybody. I’m sure it’ll all work out for the best.”
Guard Stephen Curry, who is among the Warriors’ seven free agents, is expected to sign one of the new “super-max” contracts this summer, likely a fiveyear, $205 million deal starting at $35.4 million per season. Because the Warriors own Curry’s Bird rights, his huge salary jump won’t affect their salary cap, just their luxury tax.
Durant’s decision for the sake of Iguodala and Livingston would leave the Warriors with four other free agents: Zaza Pachulia, David West, Ian Clark and JaVale McGee. Pachulia and West took minimum contracts last summer so they could compete for a title, but would they be willing to accept below-market deals again? McGee and Clark enjoyed breakout years and it remains to be seen whether they’d also turn down big money elsewhere to remain with the Warriors.