With some serious luck and a giant salary bill, the Golden State Warriors managed to keep just about every piece of their championship roster, and even added a couple players.
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All this was done in no small part to NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant literally taking one for the team and accepting a $9.5 million pay cut.
“I knew he was going to give up enough money to allow us to keep Andre (Iguodala) and Shaun (Livingston). I didn’t know he was going to go beyond that. A remarkable gesture,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told Bay Area News Group. “I told him it reminded me a little bit of Tim Duncan and his time with the Spurs. He made max money and then at key times in his career he took a little less so they could add a player here and there.”
Stephen Curry cashed in this offseason with a five-year, $201 million deal that set an NBA record for about two weeks before James Harden topped it by nearly $30 million.
But with the flexibility Durant afforded Golden State, the front office was able to add Nick Young and Omri Casspi. As it stands, backup center JaVale McGee is the only target remaining.
“The way the league works, the way the CBA works, it really kind of is up to the star player at key times to take a little haircut here and there,” Kerr said. “Whether that’s fair or not, I don’t know. But I do know that Tim knew it was dramatically helping his own career and KD understands the same thing. In the end, he’s going to make a fortune in his career. Already has and he hopefully is going to win more titles and that’s what he cares about.”
Now we wait until next June to see if it was all worth it for Durant.