Rumor: Kevin Durant likely to opt-out of contract despite injury
LA Clippers target Kevin Durant could miss the entirety of the 2019-2020 season with an injury, but rumors say he’ll still seek max money this summer.
Injury or not, Kevin Durant is still one of the best basketball players in the world. We all know that, the LA Clippers know that, and the rest of the league knows that as well. And while there have been rumors that Durant could opt-in to the final year of his contract next season and remain with Golden State, it’s now being said that opting-in could be Durant’s “last resort”.
On Wednesday morning, Adrian Wojnarowski appeared on ESPN’s Get Up! to discuss Durant’s decision going into the summer. He stated the following:
"“I think opting-in is the last resort. [He’ll earn] $31.5 million next season — that’s really if you couldn’t find any other team to commit to you on a contract. Because even if he opts-out of the contract and even if he would get a short deal with another team, a two-year deal, that starts at $38 million. I still think that there’s going to be a market for Kevin Durant to get a long-term deal, whether it’s a max or near-max contract.”"
Wojnarowski’s thoughts aren’t necessarily surprising — Durant will almost certainly still draw interest from several teams, if not from all of the teams that had interest in him prior to his latest injury. The only question about those teams still interested was how much money they’d be willing to shell out for Durant, but obviously Wojnarowski feels like it’ll be more than the $31.5 million he’d be due from the Warriors if he did choose to opt-in to the final year of his deal.
The LA Clippers are likely one of those teams still interested in Durant, and they could certainly still pay him a max or near-max salary this summer. And while that might seem odd considering his status, it’s important to keep in mind that the Clippers’ other top target, Kawhi Leonard, could very well stay with the Toronto Raptors following the end of this season. LA will need to be as aggressive as possible if signing a max-level player is their top priority, and that could mean paying a little extra for an injured Durant.
As far as Durant’s recovery goes, the timetable is still unknown. There’s yet to be an official diagnosis of his injury, though many anticipate that he’s dealing with a torn achilles tendon. If that’s the case, he could miss all of next season.
If Durant’s injury does keep any teams away from signing him this summer, it’ll be those with smaller title windows. Since the Clippers have a solid young core and have yet to reach their peak, they shouldn’t be lumped in with that group.
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So now that it seems likely that Durant will test the waters in free agency this summer, how would you feel about the LA Clippers offering him a long-term deal? Should they be aggressive and go for it, or hold off since he may not return as the same player he once was?