Warriors owner Joe Lacob isn’t stressed out about Kevin Durant‘s impending free agency, as he told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic.
Lacob says the franchise will do everything in its power to retain Durant, who is expected to decline his $31.5MM player option in order to re-enter the free agent market. But Golden State’s owner isn’t having any sleepless nights over the possibility of Durant bolting.
“I honestly don’t even think about it,” Lacob said. “I don’t. Because there’s nothing I can do about it. Zero. He has earned the right to be a free agent. He’s going to make the choice that feels best for him. And it’s our job to, when the season’s over, convince him that the right decision is to be a Warrior for life.”
Durant could sign with Golden State for five years and approximately $221MM or receive a max of four years and $164MM elsewhere. Lacob believes the extra money and built-in selling points will be all the incentives the superstar forward needs to re-sign.
“Look, we can pay him the most money. We have a great team. We have great coaching,” he said. “We have great fans. I don’t think anyone can match us, when you take everything into consideration, if that’s the way you’re thinking about it. And he has a chance to win — and let’ s hope it goes well this year — a chance to win more championships. I mean, it could be legendary. If he stays here … I don’t know that you get this kind of opportunity very often. So I would hope that he thinks that and accepts that and decides he wants to stay.”
If Durant leaves, Lacob will harbor no ill feelings.
“I’m not going to be mad at him, either way,” he said. “Whatever he decides to do, he decides to do. And I’ll probably be a Kevin Durant fan no matter what. I’m not going to be emotional about it. There’s no point.”
Cleveland’s owner should take notes from this guy lol. What a class act, not even a Warriors fan but I truly respect this man.
No, he should sell the team. Lost the franchise’s most important player, 2nd best player of all time… twice.
Lebron is not Gilbert’s to lose.
Gilbert is well above average as an owner because he spends to the limits. He has made mistakes but someone else might say those were not mistakes.
He spent to the limits 2nd round of LeBron. The teams he put together 1st round were garbage.
GSW will be even better if he leaves. that will open up money for better bench players. Right now most of the bench is guys at the bottom of the payroll. The extra money means they can bring in some quality bench players.
I cant believe someone actually typed this. Kevin Durant is more valuable than 3 good bench players. Without KD it took 6 games to beat a Love/Kyrie less Cavs. Lost the other series.
I think he means more well rounded not better. They will still be good but will have more bench depth and quality. I’m thinking if he leaves shouldn’t that open the door for Cousins to stay?
I believe they’ll be limited in who they can pick up since they’ll still be over the cap without a new contract for Durant. I’m still hoping the dubs find a way to resign KD and get value for Draymond before he hits FA.
Kevin Durant is the best player in the league. Never has a team improved when it lost the best player in the league.
I like KD and respect he has earned the right to choose his own destiny.
I just can’t see leaving arguably the best franchise in the NBA to go to the knicks – Dolan has to be one of the three worst people in all of the NBA.
Warriors offer a great owner, the highest pay, great fans, connections to Silicon Valley opportunities, a diverse and cultural rich city, and what will most likely the best physical arena in the NBA. Not to mention a 3-5 year championship window. If it’s me I’m staying – but to each his own
They are in a unique position because of the bird rights with their key guys. Whether KD stays or leaves, they won’t be able to really upgrade the bench. It’s more of declining production from Livingston and the disappearance of McCaw that hurt though guys like Jerebko, Cook, and McKinney have helped close that gap lately.
I typed something similar and one of the fan experts on here gave me a lecture on the complicated NBA salary cap. If Durant leaves it screws the Warriors as they are way over the luxury tax it does not free up any money. As Warriors have the bird rights to Durant they can keep paying him and they can give him the most money. But, it he leaves they can go grab like Davis or something that money is gone. With that said with Livingston retiring and maybe Igoudala those funds can be spread around to boost the bench.
The Warriors would only be able to retain DMC if he agreed to come back at this year’s salary + 20%, which I don’t see him agreeing to. As for the bench, after re-signing Klay, which would be an absolute must should Durant leave, the Warriors would only have exceptions like this year. They are not improving the bench with or without Durant unless better players are available this offseason that are willing to play for Vet minimums, etc.
As a Knicks fan I have a hard time wrapping my head around why KD would want to come to the Big Apple now instead of staying with the Warriors. That said, guys have all kinds of different motivations, and maybe in Durant’s case he wants to prove he can take his own team with his own sidekick back to NBA prominence.
Honestly, if I was KD I’d stay. Money wise hell yeah. But basketball situation? Are you kidding? They’ll resign klay either way, they’ll continue to attract players who want discounts for chips, (David west, boogie). If he was smart he’d stick right here.