© Kyle Terada | 2019 Jun 10
A now for your daily, obligatory Kevin Durant rumor.
The latest comes via Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, and involves Durant’s emotions toward the Warriors, now two weeks removed from sustaining a torn Achilles in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The indication from several league sources is that Durant is not happy with the team, and the presumption is that it stems from whatever role Warriors officials played in his decision to suit up.
Coach Steve Kerr says he was told Durant could not further injure himself by playing, which obviously proved not to be true. If Durant was told the same, it would give credence to the notion that, as one league executive claims, “He’s really pissed off at the Warriors.”
If the information coming from a league executive is true it wouldn’t exactly be shocking. Durant is going to miss all of next season recovering from an injury the Warriors did not believe he was at risk for as he recovered from a calf strain.
It should also be noted, however, that Durant reportedly received a second opinion on the calf before being cleared to play, and that everyone who evaluated the two-time Finals MVP believed there was minimal risk in exacerbating the injury.
“As Bob (Myers) mentioned the other night, this last month (has been) a collaborative effort in his rehabilitation,” Kerr said after Durant sustained the torn Achilles. “And that collaboration included Kevin and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, our medical staff, his own outside doctor.
“Kevin checked all the boxes and he was cleared to play by everybody involved. Now, would we go back and do it over again? Damn right. But that’s easy to say after the results. When we gathered all the information, our feeling was the worst thing could happen would be a re-injury of the calf.”
As of Monday, Durant is now the betting favorite to sign with the Brooklyn Nets (-125) this offseason. The Warriors are in second place at +200 (bet $100 to win $200), but if this rumor is true, Golden State should probably be farther down the list.
Durant has yet to opt-out of his contract with the Warriors, which would pay him $31,500,000 next season, and even if he does choose to opt-out, he could also choose to stay with the Warriors for a 5-year supermax contract, which only they can offer and would pay him approximately $221,000,000. The max contract any other team can offer him is for four years and approximately $164,000,000.