NBA Free Agency 2017: Kevin Durant could take pay cut so Warriros can re-sign Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, others
The Golden State Warriors are the overwhelming favourites to win the 2016-17 NBA championship. But regardless of the eventual victor in June, the Warriors front office will have a lot on their plate this offseason with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston approaching free agency.
While Kevin Durant is expected to decline his 2017-18 player option worth US$27 million (AU$33 million) to become a free agent on July 1, Curry, Iguodala and Livingston will become unrestricted free agents. Though Durant is opting out of his contract to capitalise on the NBA's rising salary cap, the superstar forward could be forced to take a pay cut to help the front office re-sign the likes of Iguodala, Livingston, David West, JaVale McGee and Ian Clark. If Durant were to sign a five-year max contract, his first year salary of approximately US$35 million (AU$46 million) would force the Warriors to renounce several players to clear cap room.
Kevin Durant: 'We want to keep this group together'
The Warriors could use the CBA's new "designated player veteran extension" to re-sign Durant and Curry to "supermax" contracts that will fetch the former MVPs 35 percent of the salary cap. However, in that scenario, Golden State would face a severe challenge to re-sign the rest of the free agents. If Durant is willing to take a 20 percent raise from his 2016-17 salary (a bump from US$26 million to US$31 million), the Warriors could use the Bird rights and go over the salary cap to sign the rest. However, Durant is already willing to leave some money on the table to ensure that the Warriors re-sign critical role players.
"Like I said, I haven’t thought about it, but obviously you want to keep this group together. 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," Durant said recently, via ESPN.
Bob Myers, Golden State's award-winning general manager, will likely do everything within his power to keep the group together. “At this time, I cannot comment on anything regarding free agency under league rules. But I will say it pleases me to know that our players, in general, enjoy playing for our team and are happy to be a part of our organization,” Myers told The Mercury News via e-mail.
Iguodala was a part of the recruiting team that brought Durant to Golden State last summer. "Bob and I have conversations all the time about different scenarios and different things, not just about me, but about the rest of the team. So I don’t see it being a big problem at all. And here right now will probably be the best place," the 2015 Finals MVP recently said.
Besides Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, the likes of Kyle Lowry, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Gordon Hayward will also become unrestricted free agents when NBA Free Agency 2017 commences in July.
