Photo Credit: Ben Margot, AP

Kevin Durant’s Major Sacrifice

After the season ended, Kevin Durant already told the media that he would take less than the maximum contract, to help keeping the team together.

The Golden State Warriors not only gave Stephen Curry his well deserved supermax, but also resigned Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and David West.

The team will have the same key players next year, so Durant stood by his word. Durant’s maximum contract would have had a value of $34.6 million. After signing his contract, Durant will “only” earn $26 million this coming season.

By missing out on the $9 million, Durant will mostly help the Warriors’ owners, who are able to cut the amount of luxury tax they’ll have to pay in half. Kevin Durant was willing to make an even bigger sacrifice. He would have agreed to take a bigger paycut in order to possibly sign Rudy Gay, if Andre Iguodala had left the team.

Side story about Durant: If Andre Iguodala had left, I'm told Durant was going to give even more than this back to make room for Rudy Gay.

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 3, 2017

This paycut certainly won’t lead to Kevin Durant becoming poor, but it will lead to several players earning more money than the Finals MVP in this coming season.

Damian Lillard, Carmelo Anthony, Al Horford, DeMar DeRozan, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Mike Conley, Paul Millsap, Blake Griffin, Kyle Lowry, LeBron James and Stephen Curry will all make more than Durant in the 2017-2018 season.