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Golden State Warriors star forward Kevin Durant plans to wait until later this summer before re-signing with the NBA champions. The NBA Finals MVP decided last week to decline his $27.7 million player option for 2017-18 to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 before re-upping with the Warriors. He reportedly notified Golden State of that decision this week.
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The 28-year-old Durant, a 10-year NBA veteran, wants the team to complete the bulk of its summer business before re-signing, ESPN's Marc Stein reported Wednesday.
Free agency begins at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday and the first day teams can sign players to new deals is July 6.
Sources told ESPN that Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman intend to work with the club in providing the necessary discounts on Durant's expected new two-year deal to help them retain free agents Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and other bench players.
In addition, Warriors star guard Stephen Curry, who won back-to-back MVP awards in 2015 and 2016, also will become a free agent, but he is expected to sign a five-year "supermax" extension in July worth an estimated $205 million. He made just $12.1 million this past season.
The 6-foot-11, 240-pound Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder last summer to sign with the Warriors. He played a big role this season in leading Golden State to its second NBA championship in three years over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In this year's Finals, Durant averaged 35.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists as the Warriors wrapped up the series in five games.
