Kevin Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles Tendon during the NBA Finals but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming the hottest property in the Summer free agent marketplace. On Wednesday, Durant declined his $31.5 million player’s option to return to the Golden State Warriors for the 2019-2020 season. As a result, he’s now an unrestricted free agent and even though he might not be able to play at all next season he’ll still be in serious demand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Durant hasn’t entirely ruled out a return to Golden State but the prevailing wisdom was that were that a serious option that he would have picked up the aforementioned option year. In addition to a decent $31.5 million payday Durant would be able to ‘test the market’ one season later. Essentially, he’d be ‘kicking the can’ down the road a year where he’d presumably be recovered from his injury and a more viable commodity on the free agent market. In other words, he was in a position where he could have pocketed $31.5 million for spending the majority (if not all) of the 2019-2020 season rehabbing his Achilles Tendon. Instead, he’s confident in his ‘marketability’ and wants to go ahead and get a new deal done. Golden State has one thing working it’s favor–they can pay Durant more than any other team in the league. The Warriors can offer Durant a five-year, $221 million deal while any other NBA team would be limited to four years, $164 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n