Kevin Durant is set to receive an inordinate $21 million before the end of the first week of training camp with the Brooklyn Nets.
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It seems as though every single time this 2022 NBA offseason seems to simmer down, Kevin Durant gets the NBA trade rumors mill churning out fresh think-pieces once again. The biggest story of this offseason hasn’t even been a free agent signing or any trades between teams, rather the debacle over in Brooklyn regarding KD and Kyrie Irving.
Kevin Durant is one of the league’s biggest stars despite being nearly 34 years. Taking his MCL sprain out of consideration and ‘The Slim Reaper’ had an MVP-esque season in his 14th outing in the NBA. This is also why it is incredibly difficult to assess his trade value out in the market.
On one hand, you have a bonafide primary offensive option with championship pedigree who most certainly can get you a title in the next few years. On the other hand, the Nets want young All-NBA/All-Star talent in exchange for him such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, or Devin Booker.
This would be putting the next 10-13 years of that franchise on the line but pondering over whether or not such a move is worth it for Durant is what has stalled all negotiations between Sean Marks and the rest of the NBA.
Kevin Durant needs to receive a whopping $21 million before training camp ends.
One of the biggest reasons as to why the NBA community was taken aback by KD’s request out of Brooklyn was due to the nature of his contract. He signed a 4 year/ $194 million extension with the Nets and despite him being signed on till the 2026 offseason, he wanted out of the team.
The contract is backloaded, much to Joe Tsai and company’s glee but his 2022-23 salary by itself is the pure definition of being front-loaded. According to Marc Stein, the Nets are ordered to pay Kevin Durant $21 million, which is half of his $42 million that he’s set to make this coming season, before the first week of training camp ends.
This is an inordinate amount of money to be given at once to a player, especially when you don’t even know if he’ll suit up for you when the first game of the regular season is set to be played.
There are various different ways players receive their contract money. The most common is through bi-monthly checks, meaning they receive a portion of their salary once every two weeks. It seems as though Durant’s is a bit different as he was supposed to receive $10.7 million on July 1st and October 1st.
Of course, with the trade request and everything, the Nets seemingly haven’t cleared their July 1st $10.7 million check to the 2x Finals MVP. This means they’ll have to fork over $21,484,922, a combination of those two aforementioned checks, prior to even the pre-season commencing.
