Golden State Warriors: How Would Signing Kevin Durant Work?

The Financial Side

Again, there is absolutely zero evidence that Kevin Durant wants to join the Golden State Warriors at this point in time. But if he DOES express that interest in the future, the financial aspect is the first issue that needs to be tackled, as fully detailed by Danny Leroux of the Sporting News.

Because the front office was unable to reach contract extensions for Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli in October, the Dubs will have the flexibility to execute a sign-and-trade for Durant or to sign him outright next summer.

At that time, the NBA’s salary cap will jump from $70 million to a projected $89 million, a figure that could be even higher as we get closer to the 2016-17 season. That is helpful to a team like the Warriors, since the first year of Durant’s salary could reach a max of about $25.1 million.

Operating under that premise, if the Dubs wanted to sign him outright for that figure, they’d have $69.2 million in salary committed to Durant, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson for the 2016-17 season with about $19.8 million left in cap room. Here’s where things get tricky.

At that point, the Warriors would be trying to find enough money to keep as many of their remaining core players as possible.

Festus Ezeli, who has proven himself worthy of an expanded role and will be a restricted free agent next summer, only has a cap hold of $5 million, meaning that because the Dubs own his Bird Rights, only $5 million of his salary would count toward the cap figure no matter what figure the Dubs match on a potential offer from another team.

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From there, Golden State would struggle with the decision of what to do with Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala. Bogut has always fit in well in the Bay Area and Iggy is the reigning Finals MVP, but the 23-year-old Barnes is so much younger and has a much higher ceiling than the injury-prone Bogut or the 31-year-old Iguodala.

Barnes’ cap hold ($9.7 million) is worth less than the final year of Iguodala’s contract, and, as Leroux explains, Iggy and Bogut would be attractive trade assets since they’re useful players on expiring deals that expire at the end of the 2016-17 season.

The Warriors would also have decisions to make with the partially guaranteed deals of Shaun Livingston and Jason Thompson, but make no mistake about it: if Kevin Durant says he wants to bring his talents to the Bay Area, all the potential headaches that come with shedding salary and a losing bit of depth would be worth it.

There’s also the sign-and-trade scenario, which assumes the Thunder would be cooperative in dealing away the face of their franchise if they felt the cause was lost and decided they wanted to get something in return for KD. This is a more cringeworthy scenario for the Dubs, since they’d probably need to start with Harrison Barnes in any such talks.

Not only would Golden State have to present the best sign-and-trade offer among a handful of teams that would want to add Durant, but they’d also have to make sure it wasn’t the type of Godfather offer that leaves their core wounded. Obviously a trio of Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green would be the best trio in the NBA, but the Warriors would still need depth to make sure the deal isn’t a step backward.

In the sign-and-trade route, it’d have start with Barnes, as Tim Kawakami of Mercury News Sports explains. It’d likely have to include future draft picks and/or young talent like rookie Kevon Looney. It may even extend past Festus Ezeli and into Klay Thompson territory, which would make this conversation a very interesting one since the Splash Brothers backcourt has already proven itself to be championship-worthy.

The Warriors would obviously much rather prefer to sign him outright, since they could keep more of their core intact. Either way, the Dubs will have to pull off some nifty maneuvering, but if Durant expresses interest, this dangerous team has the flexibility to make the rich even richer.

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