Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Durant is ‘planning on staying’ with the Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are on the brink of claiming their second straight NBA title with All-Star forward Kevin Durant leading the charge over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It has now shifted the conversation toward Durant’s offseason plans as he’s set to hit the free-agent market for the third straight year after opting out of the second year of his contract. The 29-year-old has wasted little time in confirming that he will be re-signing with the Warriors come July, according to ESPN.
“I’m planning on staying with the Warriors, and we’ll figure the rest out,” Durant said, before adding that only the “small details” remained to be figured out.
This shouldn’t be much of a surprise given that Durant has helped lead the Warriors to their third title in four straight NBA Finals appearances with him being a part of the latter two campaigns. The decision to opt out of his contract reasonably comes after he took nearly $10 million less on his current deal in order for the team to bring back both forward Andre Iguodala and point guard Shaun Livingston on multi-year deals.
However, this upcoming offseason Durant will likely take a max contract offer that should keep him with the Warriors for the long haul. It will keep Golden State’s core group together to compete for a few more NBA titles over the next several seasons with each of their All-Stars in the primes of their careers.
In other words, it will be nothing than a formality that Durant will be back on a new deal over the summer.
