When Kevin Durant opted out of his deal with the Golden State Warriors this summer, most everyone knew he wasn’t going anywhere. What most everyone didn’t know is that Durant would accept a pay cut with his new deal, a surprising move considering he was just named NBA Finals MVP. In an interview with Anthony Slater of TheAthletic.com, Durant revealed why he took less on his deal this summer:
On Thursday, Durant, who is now back in the U.S., took time to chat with The Athletic about his trip and much more.
Included: His first public comments about his decision to take nearly $10 million less than he could’ve gotten this summer, plus he dissects some of the off-season’s biggest moves, including Chris Paul shifting to the Rockets and Paul George joining Russell Westbrook and the Thunder.
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Q: OK, let’s go back to the beginning of the summer. First of all you win the title. You’re now two months removed. Does anything daily feel different finally being an NBA champ?
DURANT: Nah. It doesn’t. I mean maybe more people know who I am, but my life didn’t change. I didn’t change anything. I still do the same stuff.
Q: Let’s shift to free agency a few weeks later. Everyone knows what you did, taking that nearly $10-million paycut. Was it an ‘Oh, if Andre (Iguodala) needs this much, I’ll take this much’ kind of situation? How did that decision come together?
DURANT: Well, I’m a smart guy and I want to keep this thing going and looking at Andre and Shaun (Livingston) and Steph (Curry) — they all should make the most money that they can make and get what they deserve. Because they were all underpaid and I knew at some point they’d want to get what they deserve. So I just took a step back and let the chips fall where they may. Then I took it in my hands. I wanted to keep the team together and I thought it was going to help the ownership bring all the guys back. And on top of that, it’s my money. It’s my decision. I can do what the hell I want with it.
Q: Were you surprised by some of the blowback?
DURANT: They only (criticized) it because it’s the Warriors and it’s me and they love to hate anything we do right now. A lot of players have (taken pay-cuts). It wasn’t that I wanted the praise. I’ve learned from Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki and how it has helped them over the years and I thought, if they did it, why can’t I? Why shouldn’t I sacrifice? People wanted the money to break us up and I didn’t want that to happen.
Q: I’m sure you got quite the reaction from Bob Myers and the front office when you brought them the number.
DURANT: Yeah, like I said, I’m a grown man in this league and I’m at the point of my life and career where I’m able to dictate what I want to do with my future. So me and my business partner (Rich Kleiman) talked about it and when we brought it to them we knew they’d be excited because it’ll definitely help the whole group.
Q: Will you enlist Andre as your agent for your next negotiations after what he got this summer?
DURANT: Nah, he got that all by himself. He got all of that. We kept him and Shaun and were able to sign Nick Young and keep JaVale (McGee).
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Q: So you guys are intact with 12 returning players including your entire core, plus a couple of other nice pieces. But the landscape around you out west has shifted a ton. I assume you’ve been following. What have you thought of all these moves?
DURANT: Yeah. You’re just seeing a lot of these GMs buckling down and saying, you know what, let’s swing for the fences. Let’s see what we can do. Anything can happen. You gotta respect it. Before, you’ve seen GMs be conservative, try to save money or build through the draft every year. Just try to be OK. But teams aren’t just settling for that. They’re trying to win and trying to win now and they want to put the best players together.
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Q: A couple of the specific moves that I want to ask you about, starting with Houston: Chris Paul and James Harden. It’s an interesting pairing. What do you think?
DURANT: It is interesting. You have two guys that really enjoy handling the basketball but really know how hard it is to do that for 40 minutes a night, 82 games, plus 16 in the playoffs. They love handling the ball, but they know how tiring it is. They need each other to take the pressure off.
James wants to catch and shoot. I think that’s what all great players want to do. They don’t want to dribble 100 percent of the time. They want to go 50/50, sometimes catch and shoot and let teammates create. I feel they both want to do that now and I think it’s going to work extremely well because they’re both unselfish and can shoot. They’ve got real skills, so I think it’s going to be great for the league and obviously great for Houston.
Q: The other move is one you know well: Paul George going to OKC. I believe he said he reached out to you to ask you a little about the organization.
DURANT: Nah, me and PG didn’t talk much about the organization at all. I texted him congrats and told him he was going to love it there. It’s just a matter of what type of team they’re going to be, who’s going to do what, who is going to step up.
But they got Russ and PG and Steven Adams to be their Big 3. I think if they feed off each other, it could be great. I’m a fan of the game. So I can see if something is going to work or not and I think that’s going to be a really, really great pairing. It’s going to suck for us and the rest of the league. But as a fan of the game, it’s going to be tight to see how they work that thing out.
