No easy call for KD
SALT LAKE CITY — Perhaps you’ve stopped to ponder over the last few days just how cool it is being Kevin Durant right now.
NBA franchises are enticing you with their millions. Teams are flying to the Hamptons to make presentations of how you can be a star in their city. The quarterback you’ve admired and defended is taking time away from doing general Tom Brady jet-setting stuff to join the Celtics’ mission.
You got to choose the handful of suitors, and they gratefully came running.
But I’m thinking this is not as easy as it seems for Kevin Durant.
These are the best of times; these are the most agonizing times.
His decision is not easy on any level.
And, indeed, it is important to explain that Durant’s difficulties do not exist in the same realm as the more pressing issues facing a too large portion of this country and world. He does not have to worry about making ends meet for his family. His job is not going to be shipped overseas by some giant corporation.
Still, this has got to be hard for him.
We’ll get to the money part in a bit, but, first, he has to be considering the Thunder — the franchise and its following. Durant is, by all accounts, a loyal person, which has to make it difficult on some level to walk away from Oklahoma City. The club got within a game of the Western Conference finals, and even with at least some uncertainty with its offseason moves, there is no reason to believe the Thunder won’t be back in contention and likely even better next season.
And while it’s understandable that Al Horford would find the fan support in Boston more attractive than that in Atlanta, there is no such issue with the good and rowdy people of Oklahoma.
As much as Greenhearts are praying for KD to come to Boston, they should also be able to empathize with the heartbreak that occurs when a star files for divorce.
Players pine for good situations. Durant already has one.
On the other hand, this is still a business, and he can look back on what he has given to his job in OKC with absolutely no regrets. If Kevin Durant has decided that it is time to move on, that is, in a literal sense, a right granted him by the collective bargaining agreement. And with his work ethic on the court and in the community, he has earned the right to do it with a clear head.
Though we’re guessing by now that Durant’s noggin is spinning like a ball on the finger of the great Curly Neal.
If separation anxiety doesn’t do it, the finances will.
Prepare thyself to suspend the concept of normal for a moment as we discuss the money involved in this decision.
Begin with the fact that the NBA’s salary cap just rose from $70 million to $94.143 million, mainly from new television rights deals. That explains why good players are getting what had before been great player money. It also means that small percentages equal bigger sums now.
The general consensus of opinion has long been that Durant will sign a so-called one-and-one deal with Oklahoma City — a two-year contract with the second at his option — and punt his decision to next summer when the cap will take another leap and he can sign an even greater long-term deal.
That makes sense on a couple of levels, in that it would make him more money and also allow him to hang with the Thunder as Russell Westbrook completes the final year of his contract. That way, even if Durant wants to stay in OKC, he would be able to reconsider that feeling next year if Westbrook were to take off as a free agent and alter the Thunder’s competitive outlook.
There is also to consider the fact that all maximum contracts are not created equal. Max deals are based on a percentage of the salary cap, which is why the NBA has a moratorium after the start of the free agent negotiation period as an audit is done to determine the cap and luxury tax figures. Players with six or fewer years in the league are eligible to make 25 percent of the cap as a max, those with seven, eight or nine years’ experience can get 30 percent, and those with 10 or more in service time can earn up to 35 percent.
Durant has played nine years, so by waiting one more to sign a long-term contract, he can go from 30 to 35 percent of the cap — and that involves compounding larger numbers.
Also in monetary play here are the rules designed to make it more attractive to players to remain with their teams and give the league continuity. Clubs can give their own free agents contracts up to five years in length. Other teams can sign players to a maximum of four years. Also, the incumbent team can provide raises of 7.5 percent per year, while others can offer just 4.5 percent annual raises. In other words, the difference in guaranteed money can become rather enormous.
Of course, he could always sign a one-and-one with the Celtics and start the calculator from there.
And if the numbers are making you woozy, it’s at times like this that I like to recall a conversation with David West, who left $10,500,813 on the table to leave Indiana and sign with San Antonio last year.
“The only question I needed to answer was, will my lifestyle change ? Will my family’s lifestyle change? That was a no,” he said. “I’ve been preparing to make a decision like this for quite some time, just planning the right way and being a little patient early on and just always having the idea of living well below my means. That’s always allowed me the room to make a decision like I made. ... I just always wanted to give myself a chance to make decisions about basketball and not make every decision about financial issues.”
The word we’re getting is that the money isn’t what’s driving Durant, and good on him for that.
The question comes down to whether he wants to stay in OKC or leave. And once he makes that call, it’s simply a matter or choosing his next basketball home.
If another club truly interests him, the prevailing theory of him staying with the Thunder for at least one more year might make little sense. If Durant is thinking he might like to join, say, the Celtics next year, wouldn’t he be better off getting to work as soon as possible with Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, et al?
The questions abound for Kevin Durant, and it would seem none of his possible answers is wrong. But that doesn’t make the decision any less tortuous.