Reports: Kevin Durant agrees to discounted two-year deal with Warriors

Kevin Durant has agreed to a two-year contract to remain with the Warriors, according to multiple reports, which is not surprising. What is a surprise is Durant’s low salary.
Durant’s new contract is a two-year deal worth $53 million, including a player option for the second, ESPN’s Chris Haynes reports. Durant’s salary in the first year will be around $25 million, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick.
The deal is similar to the one Durant signed last summer (two years, $54 million). That contract also included an opt-out clause, which he used last week.
The maximum Durant could have earned in year one was $34.5 million and he was widely expected to earn $31.8 million, a 20% increase over his $26.5 million 2016–17 salary. Instead, Durant will actually earn less than he made in his first season with Golden State.
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Durant’s discount allowed the Warriors to offer more money to Andre Iguodala, who has agreed to a three-year contract worth $48 million. Amick reports that Durant was prepared to take an even deeper discount if Iguodala had signed elsewhere in order to let the Warriors sign Rudy Gay.
Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).
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