Kevin Durant Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Gallinari, Randolph, Ingram

July 9th, 2017 at 9:24pm CST by Austin Kent

Expect the system the Clippers have in place to complement the skills of newly acquired Danilo Gallinari, Tyler Blint-Welsh of the Los Angeles Times writes.

“One of the reasons I chose [the Clippers] is because of the team that we have,” he said. “So I have no doubt that I’m gonna fit in.”

The versatility that Gallinari brings to the franchise will help the squad play positionelss basketball, something ever more important in today’s evolving NBA. Having such options on the perimeter should make life easier for Clippers big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in the post.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Lakers shut Brandon Ingram down for the Summer League as a precautionary measure, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. The second-year forward gave his team a scare when he suffered a cramp in his leg toward the end of Friday’s Vegas league contest but the injury is minor.
When the Kings added Zach Randolph they added the type of veteran that will benefit their young players. Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee interviewed Randolph’s former coach with the Grizzlies about what he brings on and off the court. “This is a process,” Lionel Hollins said, “And the process is enhanced by the quality of your veterans. You can’t have guys who sit on the bench, get paid and don’t help their young teammates. You have to have the right veterans because that will help the young players move up faster. So the young kids better come ready out there, because Zach is going to teach them how to be tougher, more physical and professional.“
The decision that Kevin Durant made to take less money that what he was eligible for allowed the Warriors to retain their core and club general manager Bob Meyers is quick to applaud him for the gesture. “I can pretty much unequivocally say without it, we’re not looking at the team we have right now. What Kevin did shows who he is, shows what he’s about and I think it’s clear that that’s winning,” Myers told the Associated Press.

Kevin Durant Re-Signs With Warriors

July 6th, 2017 at 8:08pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 6: Durant has officially re-signed with the Warriors, per RealGM’s transactions log.

JULY 3: Kevin Durant has agreed to a two-year, $53MM contact with the Warriors, Chris Haynes of ESPN.com tweets. The second year will be a player option, Haynes adds in another tweet. Durant’s salary for next season will be $25MM, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets.

Durant’s willingness to take far less than a 20% raise aided the Warriors’ efforts to retain their free agents, Marcus Thompson of the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Durant, who opted out of his contract with the full intention of re-signing with Golden State, was eligible to receive a maximum starting salary of $34.65MM. Durant, who made $26.54MM last season, decided to take significantly less than the expected 20% raise that would have secured him a $31.8MM salary for next season.

That is a major reason why the Warriors successfully negotiated new contracts with free agents Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. Iguodala, who was sought after by numerous clubs, agreed to a three-year, $48MM deal while Livingston agreed to stay put for three years and $24MM. In essence, as Thompson points out, Durant is gifting part of his salary for next season to his teammates.

Durant’s discount will also help ownership save some money on its luxury tax bill, depending upon how far over the tax line the franchise goes. Durant’s first-year salary will save the franchise approximately $20MM, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who projects Golden State will now pay $32.4MM instead of $52.4MM in luxury taxes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Rumors: Durant, Hill, Rockets, Hayward

July 3rd, 2017 at 8:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevin Durant would have give the Warriors an even bigger discount to help them land Kings free agent Rudy Gay if Andre Iguodala had not agreed to re-sign, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets. Durant agreed to a two-year, $53MM contract on Monday with a starting salary of $25MM. Iguodala agreed to a three-year, $48MM contract to remain with Golden State. Amick’s tweet gives insight into the type of money it will take to land Gay despite the Achilles tear he suffered last season.

In other free agent developments:

The Nuggets are still pursuing free agent point guard George Hill and trying to clear cap to make that happen, Amick tweets. Denver already made a big splash by reaching an agreement with power forward Paul Millsap on a three-year, $90MM contract. The Lakers are in serious discussions with Hill on a one-year deal but Los Angeles is also considering another free agent point guard, Rajon Rondo, according to Amick (Twitter link).
Rockets GM Daryl Morey plans to hold onto his remaining non-guaranteed contracts and $3.3MM bi-annual exception, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Morey might add a player on a minimum contract, Feigen adds.
The Jazz’s meeting with Gordon Hayward on Monday lasted 3 1/2 hours and included newly-acquired point guard Ricky Rubio, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Hayward held meetings with the Heat and Celtics the previous two days and is expected to make a decision within the next two days.

Free Agent Rumors: Durant, Hayward, Gay, Kings

July 1st, 2017 at 11:27am CST by marksuleymanov

The defending NBA champion Warriors started free agency off with a bang, agreeing to terms with two-time Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry to the richest pact in league history. The team will reportedly sign Curry to a five-year deal worth $201MM+ and now the focus turns to retaining the remainder of Golden State’s championship-winning roster.

Last year’s prized acquisition, Kevin Durant, led the team to a championship and is now a free agent. However, Chris Haynes of ESPN (via Twitter) reports that teams have not reached out to Durant’s camp to gauge his interest in leaving because they see it as a “waste of time.” Earlier this week, it was reported that Durant will wait to re-sign with the Warriors to allow the team to finish other offseason business, and he will not meet with other teams during that stretch.

Below are additional rumors surrounding this year’s free agency period:

If the Heat’s pursuit of Gordon Hayward falls through, the team may turn its attention to fellow free agent Rudy Gay, according to Chris Mannix of The Vertical (via Twitter). Mannix adds that Gay told the outlet he should be ready for the start of the season as he recovers from a torn Achilles.
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor (via Twitter) cites three league sources who believe the Heat are the frontrunners for Hayward. The sunny beaches and warm weather of Miami, a popular coach in Erik Spoelstra, and a prominent role in which he can be the team’s primary scorer are all lucrative incentives, O’Connor notes. However, O’Connor acknowledges that it’s a fluid situation, and a lot could change based on Hayward’s meetings.
Restricted free agent Alan Williams is a “serious” candidate to sign with the Knicks, a source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link). While the Suns could match any offer for Williams, their willingness to do so may hinge on who else they’re able to land in free agency.
The Kings are intent on landing a power forward in free agency, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, who tweets that Zach Randolph, Patrick Patterson, and Taj Gibson are all on Sacramento’s radar. We had previously heard about the team’s interest in Randolph and Patterson.
According to Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter), the Pistons have been in contact with Reggie Bullock, Aron Baynes, and restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope since free agency opened late on Friday night.

Kevin Durant Will Wait To Sign New Deal With Warriors

June 28th, 2017 at 10:39am CST by Luke Adams

While Kevin Durant is a lock to return to the Warriors, he doesn’t intend to finalize a new deal with the team when free agency opens on July 1, reports ESPN’s Marc Stein. According to Stein, Durant’s plan is to wait until after Golden State has conducted most of its offseason business to re-sign with the team.

Sources tell Stein that Durant has made it clear he won’t meet with other teams or field rival offers from potential suitors, so it’s a matter of when – not if – he officially signs a new deal with the Warriors. One of Stein’s sources suggests it may not happen until “later” in July, though if Golden State wraps up most of its other major moves shortly after the moratorium ends, Durant would likely have no reason to wait beyond mid-July.

Durant, who turned down a player option for 2017/18, is eligible for a starting salary worth up to $34.65MM based on a $99MM cap. However, he’s expected to accept a slightly more modest raise in order to allow the Warriors to attempt to sign Andre Iguodala and/or Shaun Livingston. By signing Durant to a raise using his Non-Bird rights, the Warriors would retain full Bird rights on Iguodala and Livingston, allowing the team to make competitive offers to those key role players.

Of course, just because the Warriors have Bird rights on Iguodala and Livingston, that doesn’t guarantee they’ll return. If a rival team makes a lucrative multiyear offer that the Warriors aren’t comfortable matching, it’s possible Iguodala and/or Livingston will head elsewhere rather than accepting a “hometown” discount to remain with the defending champions.

If the Warriors were to lose Iguodala and Livingston, waiting to sign his new contract could allow Durant to potentially earn the full max after all, since the club would be able to renounce its rights to its other free agents and create cap room to accommodate Durant.

Kevin Durant To Opt Out, Re-Sign With Warriors

June 19th, 2017 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

Kevin Durant will opt out of his contract with the Warriors this month, but he won’t be going anywhere, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN.com. Haynes reports that Durant will re-sign with the Warriors in July after declining his player option and technically becoming an unrestricted free agent. Both moves – Durant’s opt-out and his new deal with Golden State – had long been expected, but now we have confirmation.

When Durant first signed with the Warriors last summer, he opted against inking a long-term deal, instead signing a two-year contract that featured a player option in year two. With nine years of NBA experience heading into the 2016/17 season, Durant was one year short of becoming eligible for the higher maximum salary for players with 10+ years of experience. He’ll now be able to sign a deal that starts at 35% of the cap instead of 30%.

However, as Haynes details, it doesn’t appear that Durant will sign a full maximum salary contract this summer. Having controlled Durant for just one season, the Warriors don’t have his full Bird rights, which would allow the team to go over the cap to sign him to a max deal. Instead, Golden State has Durant’s Non-Bird rights, which allow for a 20% raise.

In order to sign Durant to a max contract starting at a projected $35.35MM, the Warriors would need to clear the necessary cap room, which would mean renouncing their Bird rights on other key free agents like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. A 20% raise on Durant’s previous salary would result in a starting rate of about $31.85MM — less than the true max, but more than he would have received by exercising his player option ($27.73MM). Durant’s willingness to accept a 20% raise will also give the Warriors more flexibility to re-sign Iguodala and Livingston.

According to Haynes, all signs point to Durant signing another two-year deal with an opt-out after year one. That would allow the 28-year-old to become a free agent again next summer and sign a long-term deal with the Warriors worth the full max. At that point, Golden State would hold Durant’s Early Bird rights — those Early Bird rights won’t allow for a five-year contract, but Durant could get the max for four years without the team having to use cap room.

Durant’s first full season in Golden State was an unequivocal success, as the former MVP was more efficient than ever, making a career-high 53.7% of his shots in 62 regular season games. He added 25.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, and 1.6 BPG, and helped buoy the Warriors to a 16-1 playoff run, earning his first championship and the NBA Finals MVP award.

In addition to locking up Durant to a new deal in July, the Warriors are also on track to work out a new agreement with Stephen Curry. Golden State’s other former MVP will be in line for a five-year contract worth a projected $205MM, since he’s eligible for the Designated Veteran Extension.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Warriors Rumors: Free Agents, Iguodala, Livingston

June 16th, 2017 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

It has been less than four full days since the Warriors won Game 5 of the NBA Finals and captured their second title in three years, but fans and observers are already looking ahead to see how Golden State intends to keep its championship roster together. Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News takes a deep dive into that subject today, breaking down the Warriors’ salary cap options and providing a handful of insider tidbits as well. Let’s round up the highlights…

Multiple NBA sources have told Kawakami that it’s all about the Warriors’ Big Four and Andre Iguodala, suggesting that the team won’t break the bank for anyone else on the roster. That includes free-agents-to-be like Zaza Pachulia, David West, Ian Clark, and JaVale McGee.
Out of that group of the Warriors’ top five players, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Iguodala are all eligible to become free agents. Kawakami expects Curry to receive a five-year, super-max deal worth upwards of $205MM, while Durant appears willing to accept a 20% raise rather than the full max, allowing the club to stay over the cap to re-sign Iguodala and possibly others.
Assuming Durant settles for a 20% raise, look for Iguodala to sign a multiyear deal worth between $8MM and $12MM annually, says Kawakami. The Sixth Man of the Year candidate has suggested he expects to re-sign with Golden State and that negotiations are almost done. If another team swoops in with a massive offer, it’s possible Iguodala reconsiders his options, but at that this point, the main question appears to be how many years will be on his new Warriors contract.
Shaun Livingston‘s situation is “much more open-ended,” with Kawakami pegging the odds of the point guard’s return as a coin flip. Kawakami speculates that a one- or two-year deal worth $6-7MM per year would be feasible for the Warriors, but Livingston will likely do better than that on the open market.
As Kawakami points out, it’s worth keeping an eye on the tax apron, which is projected to be around $127MM for 2017/18. If a team wants to use its full mid-level exception and/or bi-annual exception, it can’t exceed the apron at any point during the league year. If the Warriors go over that number, they’ll be limited to the taxpayer MLE – worth about $5.2MM – and minimum salary contracts for any additional signings.

Warriors Notes: Curry, Durant, Livingston, Kerr

June 14th, 2017 at 9:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

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.

Warriors Notes: Durant, Clark, Pachulia

June 2nd, 2017 at 8:01pm CST by Austin Kent

The path that the Warriors took to emerge from the middle and transform into perennial contenders can be traced back to their ability to develop players, Nick Kosmider of the Denver Post writes.

The Warriors are on the verge of a dynasty, Kosmider says, and attributes it to the fact that the club has stuck with players they drafted and watched them morph into superstars. Well, that and a little bit of luck.

Kosmider mentions Stephen Curry specifically, a player once cast aside as injury prone and the shrewd drafting decisions to add Klay Thompson at No. 11 in 2011 and then Draymond Green at No. 35 in 2012.

After failing to catch on with the Jazz four years ago, Ian Clark has carved out a role for himself with the Warriors, Mike Sorensen of the Deseret News writes. The reserve is averaging 7.2 points per game as a member of the Dubs’ second unit this season, not bad for somebody who got cut by a team that won 25 games in his rookie season.
Recently retired forward Paul Pierce questioned the competitive nature of Kevin Durant, comparing the forward’s decision to join the Warriors to a kid’s decision to join a gang of bullies after getting beaten up. Chase Hughes of CSN Mid-Atlantic has the details (and video).
There’s no denying the rivalry between the Warriors and Cavaliers, even when the conversation shifts to players who only joined the two organizations this season. “Obviously when you play against somebody and it’s the third time in a row and split the seasons and championships, they don’t like each other,” Warriors center Zaza Pachulia told Josh Dubow of the Associated Press.
Speaking of Zaza Pachulia, the Warriors big man is the last eligible player that was selected in the 2004 expansion draft, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes.

Kevin Durant Open To Re-Signing For Less Than Max

June 1st, 2017 at 8:44am CST by Luke Adams

With an NBA Finals rematch against the Cavaliers set to get underway tonight, the Warriors have more pressing matters on their minds than the coming offseason, but with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and several other rotation players eligible for free agency, Golden State may have some difficult decisions to make. However, according to Ramona Shelburne and Chris Haynes of ESPN.com, Durant is open to the idea of making those decisions a little easier for the Warriors by accepting less than the maximum salary.

Durant, who signed a two-year contract with the Warriors last July, has a player option in year two, meaning he can opt out this summer and sign a new deal. The former MVP is also finishing up his 10th NBA season, which makes him eligible for a substantially higher max salary. As we outlined on Wednesday, the starting max salary for a player with 10+ years of NBA experience is currently projected to be $35.35MM. That’s significantly higher than Durant’s $27.73MM player option.

In order to create the cap room necessary for a new maximum salary contract for Durant though, the Warriors would almost certainly have to renounce their Bird rights to other key free agents like Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala. Golden State would still be able to give Durant and Curry new long-term maximum salary contracts in that scenario, but would then only have the modest room exception and the minimum salary exception left to add or re-sign players.

On the other hand, if Durant is willing to take less than the max, he could either exercise his player option or turn it down and re-sign a deal based on his Non-Bird rights. Those rights allow for a raise of up to 20%. Since Durant earned about $26.54MM in 2016/17, a 20% raise would take him up to approximately $31.84MM for ’17/18. In that scenario, the Warriors would stay above the cap, allowing them to continue carrying their cap holds for Livingston and Iguodala, retaining those players’ Bird rights and making it much easier to re-sign them.

League sources stressed to Shelburne and Haynes that Durant hasn’t made any final decisions about his contract situation quite yet, but if he’s open to sacrificing about $3.5MM next season, he could give the Warriors much more flexibility to bring back their other free agents. Durant could also sign another short-term deal and potentially opt out to get the bigger max in 2018.