KD still expected to turn down player option and a sign max contract this summer.
Kevin Durant‘s achilles injury will likely hinder his ability to step on the court at all next season, but it may not impact his free agency destination this summer.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the belief is that Durant will still turn down his player option with Golden State.
“I don’t think it affects his free agency that much. It affects the league dramatically. I don’t know if he’s made up his mind yet, but talking to people around the league, the expectation is he will not pick up his player option.”
Furthermore, ESPN’s Bobby Marks says multiple teams are still prepared to fer KD a four-year max contract, should he indeed decline the $31M player option with Golden State.
“I said … If you had cap space, would you go out and sign Kevin Durant knowing that he will likely be out maybe the whole year? And the resounding answer was ‘yes.’ Each the teams also said that they wouldn’t even put any injury language in there for maybe years three and four to protect. So, yes, there will be a marketplace for Kevin Durant this summer, either with a team for four years, $141 million dollars or even back in Golden State here.”
Durant, who will turn 31 in September, is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Tuesday to determine the severity his achilles injury.