Kevin Durant Signs Two-Year, $54.3M Deal With Warriors

Kevin Durant agreed to a two-year, $54.3 million contract with the Golden State Warriors on Monday, after announcing his decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder in a post on The Players’ Tribune.

Kevin Durant Signs Two-Year, $54.3M Deal With Warriors

“The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction,” the 27-year-old forward wrote. “But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth.

“With this in mind, I have decided that I am going to join the Golden State Warriors.”

Durant’s deal includes an opt-out (player option) after the first year. Two-time reigning MVP guard Stephen Curry is now the fourth-highest-paid player on the Warriors. Durant will be No. 1, followed by Klay Thompson ($16.6 million), Draymond Green ($15.3 million) and Curry ($12.1 million), who can become a free agent after next season.

Green told The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears in a text message that he was ecstatic the Warriors signed Durant. He also tweeted to express his excitement about his new teammate.

Durant’s contract can be finalized Thursday, when the league-wide moratorium on signings and trades is lifted. Free agency began on Friday.

Golden State renounced their rights to forward Harrison Barnes in order to help clear the salary-space needed to sign Durant. That will make Barnes an unrestricted free agent on Thursday. Barnes, 24, signed a four-year, $94 million maximum deal with the Dallas Mavericks, who have also agreed to a trade with the Warriors to acquire center Andrew Bogut and his 2016-17 contract, with a base value of just over $11 million.

Just before Durant’s Players’ Tribune post, Bogut removed references to the Warriors from his Twitter page.

Bogut, 31, suffered bone bruises to his proximal tibia and distal femur, two major bones in the leg, during Game 5 of the NBA Finals and missed the final two games of the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. His injury did not require surgery.

Thunder general manager Sam Presti expressed his team’s sadness with Durant’s departure in a statement.

“Kevin made an indelible mark on the Thunder organization and the state of Oklahoma as a founding father of this franchise,” Presti said. “We can’t adequately articulate what he meant to the foundation of this franchise and our success. While clearly disappointing that he has chosen to move on, the core values that he helped establish only lead to us thanking him for the many tangible and intangible ways that he helped our program.”

Presti later added the team already had a pretty good idea that Durant would be moving on even before its final meeting with him in the Hamptons on Sunday.

Perhaps the biggest catch on the free-agent market, Durant met with six teams over the past three days: Oklahoma City, Golden State, the San Antonio Spurs, the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors held their meeting with Durant on Friday.

Durant has spent all nine seasons of his career with the Thunder. He was selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA Draft out of the University of Texas. He won the MVP in 2014, has been named first-­team All-­NBA five times and has made seven All-­Star teams. He has appeared in four Western Conference finals and one NBA Finals, in which he lost in five games to the Heat in 2012.

“I’m from Washington D.C. originally, but Oklahoma City truly raised me,” Durant wrote. “It taught me so much about family, as well as what it means to be a man. There are no words to express what the organization and the community mean to me and what they will represent in my life and in my heart forever. The memories and friendships are something that go far beyond the game. Those invaluable relationships are what made this deliberation so challenging.
“It really pains me to know that I will disappoint so many people with this choice, but I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career.”

Last season, Durant earned second-team All-NBA honors after undergoing three surgeries to repair a Jones fracture on his right foot suffered before the 2014-2015 season, in which he was limited to 27 games before undergoing a season-­ending bone graft procedure in March. Oklahoma City missed the playoffs that year.

With Durant back for 72 games last season, the Thunder improved to 55-27 and finished third in the West. Durant averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists last season, and he scored at least 20 points in 67 straight games. In nine seasons, Durant has averaged 27.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

DALLAS, TX – FEBRUARY 24:  Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrates after scoring against the Dallas Mavericks in the second half at American Airlines Center on February 24, 2016 in Dallas, Texas.