Kevin Durant is the best basketball player on the planet and he has officially re-upped with the defending champion, Golden State Warriors. Durant has earned his next contract after winning back to back NBA Finals MVP. Warriors general manager, Bob Myers proclaimed that Durant could have whatever contract that he wanted. Well… Mr. Kevin did just that. Durant will sign a two-year max contract with a player option for the second season.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports was the first to report the news:
Kevin Durant has committed to a two-year, $61.5M deal to return to the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2018
The deal is worth $61.5 million but he’s unlikely to see the second part of that deal. Yes, you heard it right. Durant will enter the market again in 2019 and teams will be circling for his services once again next summer. The interesting part of this deal is that Durant actually helped the Warriors cap for the upcoming season.
The NBA salary cap is very confusing so let’s let Bobby Marks of ESPN tell the story of what’s going on with this new deal.
“The Kevin Durant contract is for $30M and $31.5M with a player option in year 2. The $5M Durant savings this year now offsets the $5.3M tax midlevel if Golden State elects to use it. Durant would save the Warriors $20M in projected luxury tax costs.”
“The Kevin Durant contract is for $30M and $31.5M with a player option in year 2. The $5M Durant savings this year now offsets the $5.3M tax midlevel if Golden State elects to use it. Durant would save the Warriors $20M in projected luxury tax costs.”
