A man who needs no introduction officially joins the Golden State Warriors on Thursday when 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant is welcome to Oakland at a press conference in the same venue where his season ended.
Durant, 27, led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Western Conference finals four times in the past six seasons, including a Game 7 loss in June to the Warriors.
After a sitdown with 2015 and 2016 MVP Steph Curry, coach Steve Kerr, All-Stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Durant spoke directly with Jerry West, the former NBA icon who works in the front office with the Warriors. West was 1-7 all-time in the NBA Finals and discussed with Durant breaking from his comfort zone and the benefit of a change of scenery.
Green, who is a good friend of Durant’s, said the pitch was rather simple and started with a question: “How many championships do you think we can win together?”
Durant selected the Warriors over the Thunder and Boston Celtics and signs a two-year, $54.3 million contract that allows him to return to free agency next July, when Curry is another star attraction scheduled to be on the open market.
To make room for Durant in a starting lineup comprised of four lottery picks and second-rounder Green, the Warriors traded center Andrew Bogut, who was owed $11 million in the final year of his contract next season, and renounced the rights to restricted free agent Harrison Barnes.
Durant’s contract was finalized Thursday, the day the league-wide moratorium was lifted on signings and trades. Getting back to the open market next summer, when the $107 million salary cap bonanza is projected because of new TV and digital rights deals, could bring Durant and Curry deals approaching $30 million-$35 million per season.
“The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it based on the potential for my growth as a player — as that has always steered me in the right direction,” Durant wrote on The Players Tribune on Monday. “But I am also at a point in my life where it is of equal importance to find an opportunity that encourages my evolution as a man: moving out of my comfort zone to a new city and community which offers the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth. With this in mind, I have decided that I am going to join the Golden State Warriors.”
Durant also met with representatives of the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers.
Durant and All-Star teammate Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to six playoff appearances in the past seven seasons. Oklahoma City had a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series against the Warriors but lost Game 7 at Oracle Arena.
“Kevin made an indelible mark on the Thunder organization and the state of Oklahoma as a founding father of the franchise,” Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti said in a statement. “We can’t adequately articulate what he meant to the foundation of this franchise and our success. While clearly disappointing that he has chosen to move on, the core values he helped us establish only lead us to thanking him for the many tangible and intangible ways that he helped our program.”