Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are willing to be flexible with their contracts to give the Warriors the best shot at repeating, relays Anthony Slater of The San Jose Mercury News. Curry is eligible for a five-year mega max deal this summer worth about $205MM. His contract would start at about $35.5MM next season and climb to roughly $46.7MM in the final year. “As we go into talks and this whole process — which is obviously new for me — I will approach it as getting the most as I can as an individual, as a player, something I’ve been working for for a very long time,” Curry said. “In the context of keeping the team together, if there are decisions that need to be made, we’ll talk about [a slightly smaller deal] for sure.”
Durant would be eligible for the same contract, but because he just signed with the team last summer, the Warriors don’t have his Bird rights. They would have to renounce Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston to open enough cap space for Durant. An alternative is a 20% raise from this season, which would bump Durant’s salary to $31.8MM and permit Golden State to go over the cap to keep Iguodala and Livingston. “I feel as though I am going to be back here — no question,” Durant said. “We’ll all figure something out, work something out. I want to be here.”
There’s more news out of Golden State:
- Past dynasties have demonstrated that not everyone can receive fair market value, writes Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders. The toughest decisions this summer will involve Iguodala, Zaza Pachulia and David West, three unrestricted veteran free agents who may be looking at their last chance for big-money contracts.
- Another of Golden State’s 10 free agents is Livingston, who also prefers to stay with the Warriors, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN.com. Livingston could be looking at a substantial raise after making a combined $16.5MM in his three years with Golden State. “I think we’ll all love to keep this group together and see what we’re able to accomplish together,” Livingston said. “But we’ll see what happens when that time comes. There’s obviously a domino effect. Guys have decisions to make, but it’s about enjoying this journey, this moment that we’re on right now.”
- Steve Kerr discusses his unusual role in the title run and his future in coaching in a podcast with Zach Lowe of ESPN.com.
Curry wants that Max deal. No doubt. Players want to get paid. Already has 2 rings and 2 MVPs.
Anyone does but he has a conscience and its telling him not to be greedy and accept a sum that still makes the average persons head explode to maintain the best chance to win.
Look at Tom Brady for example. Say what you want about him as a person, but he only gets paid 12M a year (“only”)
Which is about half the going rate of good QB’s. helps pats be so good for sure
That’s because his wife is loaded.
His wife a model… she isn’t making as much as him even on a 12 mil a year contract smh
She made $30M last year from Chanel and her lingerie line…She’s loaded
She’s also made over $40M in other years so it wasn’t a one time thing.
That’s b/c the NFL is all about robbing the players and making sure they don’t get paid
Remember that Tom played hard ball a few years back and wanted more money. The Pats wouldn’t budge. Then that lady hit him in a minor accident and Brady realized that if it would have been worse, he could have been really screwed. He signed for less than he wanted within a day or so.
Brady literally sign for the as much money as possible and then negotiates later to reduce his cap number. Better example would be Wade for the Heat all those years and we saw how that ended up
Livingston is such a valuable piece to that team. He’s just too hard for G to handle offensively. He’s that x factor player that can give you 8-10 off the bench.
If curry take that money i would be disappointed because it would cause some rift in that locker room and plus how would you be able to pay other guys between his contract and durant contract in the near future. Green took less Durant is willing to take less come on curry please take less. 24 or less is a good number. That way you can keep a.i and Livingston plus go after willie reed from the heat who i think would be an awesome fit for this team. So curry it’s up to you remember what west said about the Egyptians not able to take it all with you 24 mill or less is an amazing living for anyone plus his endorsement money eould put him well beyond 30 mill a year.
ss.
It’s not about taking it all with him, he has two kids who probably won’t even have to work growing up he’s thinking about. He’s been Under paid for two championships and two mvps! He wants his money. He deserves it.
Willie Reed would require the full MLE from the Warriors in my opinion. I think he could easily get something between $6-9 million, and that could be light
But I find it ridiculous to suggest Steph Curry shouldn’t go after what he deserves, especially hiow his last contract situation played out. If you remember, they almost didn’t extend him at all. I’m sure both he and KD (on a 1+1) take a couple of million less each and they figure it out like that.
Curry is the one guy that they won’t mind taking the full amount that he’s owed. He sacrificed and it paid off huge. In saying that, I bet he leaves a bit off the table to help out. He seems like a good dude.
I could see Curry taking slightly under the max, KD taking the same for a 1+1 deal, them keeping Shaun Livingston at $9-10 million per for 3, and AI at $12 million per for 3. Then they have their MLE at $8.3 million. If they’re willing to go super luxury tax deep, they’ll be fine. Ian Clark will likely get the $7 million payday he deserves elsewhere, and they’ll figure that out some other way. They also have McCaw. I think David West comes back. Javale probably gets $5 million from someone. Not sure what ends up happening with ZaZa, who can probably get something in the $6-8 million range himself, from someone…I also think Mccadoo could get a $3 million deal from someone as a versatile, small ball 5
They could use 1 of their young/D-league guys, like Damian Jones to give them help at that 5 spot, to replace probably Javale, and give them some cheap production, and allow them to retain depth. I’m sure they’ll grab 2-3 minimum guys though. Off the top of my head, I’d like to see Vince Carter there. He can play a role on this team at the 2/3 spots off the bench on some nights. He still competes defensively, and can shoot the 3, and he has a relationship with Steph and KD. It also would be cool to see him win.
Curry can take the full max without it impacting the amount of money they can pay others. Just have to sign KD first using cap space and they can use Bird rights to go over the cap with Steph, Iggy, and Livingston